Meet Siana Smith

We recently connected with Siana Smith and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Siana , so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?

I found my purpose through a long process of doing, reflecting, and simply being. It didn’t arrive early in my life. Growing up in a family of engineers and medical researchers, I assumed my career had to follow one of those paths—neither of which truly interested me. In post–Cultural Revolution China, education was everything. Getting into a university felt like the only route to stability and safety. All my energy went into required courses and exam preparation. I never had the chance to explore extracurriculars, and I didn’t even know what I enjoyed. I was like a hamster on a wheel—working hard, following the track laid out before me. I entered an agricultural university and earned a degree in Ornamental Horticulture.

When I came to the United States, I stepped onto another track to survive in a new country. Computer science seemed promising, so I earned a master’s degree and worked as a software engineer for years. Later, when I paused my career to raise a family, I finally allowed myself to try things—dance, photography, little bits of art—but only lightly, safely, on the side.

It wasn’t until I became an empty nester that I returned to school and pursued an MFA in painting. This time, no one was directing me. Through reading, studying, and painting, I began to learn who I truly was and what I cared about. Art became not just a practice but a way of understanding myself.

I realized that purpose arrives when work becomes a state of being—when you wake up each morning wanting to return to it, to explore more, to go deeper. After decades of doing other things, I finally found my purpose in art.

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 am a visual artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I earned my MFA in Fine Art Painting from California College of the Arts in 2021. My oil paintings and mixed-media works explore themes of consumerism, personal attachment, and our evolving relationship with nature. As an immigrant, I often reflect on the tensions between scarcity and abundance, permanence and disposability. Everyday objects, figures, and natural imagery become vessels for memory, identity, and cultural commentary—ways of understanding how we navigate value, belonging, and the passage of time.
Residencies have played an important role in shaping my practice. I’ve attended the Jentel Residency in Wyoming, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, RUC Contemporary Art Residency in Brescia, Italy, and the Brazos Valley Artist in Residence in Texas. I received the 2023 California Arts Council Individual Emerging Artist Fellowship, and my work has been exhibited nationally in museums, galleries, and arts institutions. I am also part of Root Division’s Introduction 2025 cohort, and one of my paintings was accepted into the 2025 London Biennial.
Looking ahead, 2026 is an exciting year for my practice. Seven of my paintings have been invited to the Euphrat Museum’s A Sense of Belonging exhibition, opening January 15, 2026, in conjunction with Silicon Valley Reads 2026: “Bridges to Belonging.” I also have several solo exhibitions: Beneath the Surface at the Saratoga Library (January–February), a solo show at the Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery in San Ramon in March, and Crmpl at Obelisk Gallery in San Jose (September 12–October 10). In May, I will be an artist-in-residence at the Center for the Arts in Evergreen, Colorado, for three months.
It’s a meaningful moment in my journey, one where years of exploration, cultural navigation, and creative persistence are converging into a practice that feels both deeply personal and outward-looking.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back, the three qualities that have had the greatest impact on my journey are persistence, resilience, and a commitment to continuous learning. I’ve come to see learning as both a privilege and a necessity for growth. Whether it comes through classes, workshops, books, or exhibitions, each experience has helped me deepen, widen, or redirect my path in meaningful ways.

Persistence is the steady force that keeps you moving, no matter how long the road feels. Resilience is what carries you through obstacles—it allows you to keep going even when things don’t work out the first, second, or third time.

For those early in their journey, my advice is this: it’s okay to start small and move slowly. What matters is that you begin, stay curious, and continue taking steps forward. Over time, those small, steady efforts build into something powerful.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

If I knew I had only one decade left, I would spend it very much the way I’m living now. I would continue to focus on my art, move my body whenever I can, and see more of the world from time to time. The only difference is that I would act sooner and procrastinate less. I would give myself permission to follow what matters, immediately and wholeheartedly, and with less hesitation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sianasmith.com
• Instagram: @siana.smith