Artist Statement
Jo Fleming Smith, born on the North East Coast and currently living and working in the Peak District National Park, is a painter and installation artist who is fascinated by the weather, the sea and natural landscape. A sense of place and the passage of time alongside her experiences of connectedness are a focus for her practice.
She works in series and her paintings and installations are often characterised by the blueness of the sea or the dusky colours of the sky. Her process is informed by her environment; she walks daily, documenting the changing light within the landscape. She returns to her studio and works with immediacy, selecting the palette from her experiences, staining untreated canvas and fabric, blending layers to create lightness, luminosity and depth.
The works are an intuitive response to being in nature, starting with memories of familiar places and times. As she works, she considers shared experiences, histories, cultures, and relationships, forming an interpretation of the ongoing connections she makes over time, and the impermanence and cyclic nature of the natural world.
CV
Born - 1973 North East England
Education
2021 – 2022 Edinburgh College of Art MA (Hons) Contemporary Art Practice
1993 – 1996 Sheffield Hallam University BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting
1992-1993 Sunderland University, Pre BA Foundation
Selected Exhibitions
2026 & Gallery Open, Edinburgh
Tarantella, Prosaic Space, Sheffield
Group Show, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
Hidden Door Arts Festival, Edinburgh
Summerhall Annual Group Show, Edinburgh
The Third Round Proper, Bloc, Sheffield
Maclaurin Art Gallery, VAS Annual Show, Ayr
Bloc Projects Open Members Show, Bloc, Sheffield
Common Ground, The Living Landscape, Kirkcudbright Galleries
2025 Postcards from the Artists Studio, Split Collective, Both Gallery, London
PADA 52, Group Exhibition, Lisbon, Portugal
Split3, Candid Arts Trust, London
Split, Open Street Arts, Wigan
The Elements, Fronteer, Sheffield
Split, Hypha x Dispensary, Wrexham
2024 Hidden Door Arts Festival, Edinburgh
Inside Outside, Bollington Arts Centre, Bollington
Abstract, Fronteer, Sheffield
Now & Then, Visual Arts Scotland, Dalkeith Palace, Dalkeith
The Sea, Fronteer, Sheffield
Peak District, Fronteer, Sheffield
Open Up x Art House, Sheffield
Colour, Fronteer, Sheffield
Minatures Revisited, Cuploa, Sheffield
2023 Abstract, Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
Hidden Door Arts Festival, Edinburgh
Transient Landscapes, Bloc Projects Meanwhile Space, Sheffield
Mud for You, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
Society of Scottish Artists 30 x 30, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
We Called Yesterday Today, Cupola, Sheffield
Infinite Horizon Solo Show, Summerhall, Edinburgh
2022 ECA MA Graduation Show, Main Building, Edinburgh
Group Show, Whitespace, Edinburgh
Summer Show, Edinburgh Palette, Edinburgh
Barnacle Dust & Amber Rocks, ECA Edinburgh
An Unravelling, The Embassy, Edinburgh
Got a Spare Rib Mate, The Caves, Edinburgh
2021 First Marks, The Embassy, Edinburgh
Residencies
2025 PADA 52, Lisbon, Portugal
2005 Collaboration with Yorkshire Artspace Artists & Fir Vale School, Sheffield
2004 Pye Bank School, Sheffield
1996 Riverside Sculpture Project, Sunderland
