We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Liz Rundorff Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Liz below.
Hi Liz , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I don’t think anybody feels confident 100% of the time but I’ve found that if I push myself to find work and relationships that align with my goals I am able to feel more authentic in the way I’m living. I guess part of aging is realizing that you can’t make yourself into somebody else so you really have to learn to accept who you are and give yourself grace. There are things I’m good at and things that need work so I try to just be really honest about my strengths and weaknesses. If I don’t know something I look for someone who does and I am open to learning.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I joined the Art & Light Gallery team as Assistant Gallery Director in July of 2023. I’ve been represented by Art & Light as an artist for about three years now but made the move to working full-time for the gallery last summer. It has been a really eye opening change in jobs, going from a programming position for a non-profit organization to working for a commercial gallery. I made the change because I felt it would help me to grow as an artist and I’m learning skills I never even knew I needed.
As an artist I’m inspired by the idea of creating personal memorials. Recently I’ve been creating wall hanging memorials for my daughters that are sort of in between sculpture and painting. The pieces are based on personal memories that I want to save and celebrate with my family in the same way that public memorials attempt to celebrate a historical event. The more I try to dig into why I’m making the work I’m making, the more I find that there are experiences that we can all connect to – like love and loss and the need to remember those experiences. I work primarily as a painter working in multiple mediums – drawing, encaustic, oil and acrylic paint. I like to work in multiple sizes so I usually have one or two large pieces going and a series of smaller paintings that I’m working on simultaneously. I love the drama of a big painting but I also love the intimacy of a small painting. I’m also interested in how the change in scale impacts the way that I paint.
Most recently I’ve been working on a wallpaper collaboration with artist and Art & Light Gallery Owner, Teresa Roche. We set out to make a special series of artwork, created by layering encaustic wax, pigmented pastel powders, geometric forms and organic floral motifs, that we could then transform into a collection of wallpaper patterns. The wallpaper collaboration lead to a series of paintings that will be exhibited with Art & Light from April – July of 2024.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
At some point in my journey I realized that no one was ever going to encourage me to spend more time painting. If I want to commit to being an artist in a practical way I have to claim that and show up for myself. So if I had to pick three qualities that have been most impactful I would say time management is a big one. I try to make decisions to honor my time and commitment to my practice. I don’t always want to choose spending time in the studio over everything else but I have to make a commitment to get to the future I want. I’ve learned to work in small segments of time – sometimes that means working on small acrylic paintings on paper at my kitchen table, or working on multiple paintings in varying sizes in the studio so that I can add a little to each piece in short painting sessions – I’ve built the practice into my life rather than waiting for my life to change to give me more time.
Another important quality is resilience. I face rejection and failure daily but I believe in myself and my ability to find success on my own terms. Choosing a career as an artist means that you’re choosing to make a very long term commitment to a lifelong pursuit. The commitment I’m making to my practice today is nurturing a practice I hope to have until then end of my life. It’s a long slow road but an artist has to be self-driven to continuing investing in a meaningful practice.
Third, I think it’s important to be resourceful. I may not always have the money for the supplies I really want or the space to make work in the scale I envision but I believe I’ll get there if l keep working. An artist’s greatest asset is the ability to be a creative problem solver so I’ve learned to work within limitations to find a creative solution.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I feel overwhelmed frequently and I am learning how important it is to give yourself grace. I try to find little moments everyday that allow me to simplify and just take a breath. There’s a little herb garden at Art & Light and I love to take a minute to walk outside, grab a little lavender, crush it between my fingers and just breath it in for a moment. I think it’s important, when you’re a motivated person, to tell yourself that your worth is not based on your productivity. I am making less work right now but spending more time on each piece – the decision to not crank out work has made my work stronger I think or at least more meaningful to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lizrundorffsmith.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizrundorffsmithstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizrundorffsmithstudio/
Image Credits
Will Crooks
