Collecting Darden Smith

This Saturday | 12–5 PM
Darden Smith at Flatbed | 3–4 PM
This Saturday, we’re opening the Flatbed flat files and inviting you to spend some time looking at the prints of Darden Smith.
Darden will join us at Flatbed from 3 to 4 PM to talk informally about his prints—the drawings behind them, the process of making them, and the ideas and experiences that have found their way into the work. Darden is a singer/songwriter as well as a prolific artist and writer. His book "The Habit of Noticing: Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living)" includes many of his drawings and prints.
At the center of Saturday’s presentation will be the Airlie Suite *(2026) *and the Rearview Suite (2026). The Airlie Suite is a group of nine etchings that rewards being seen together but are available as individual prints as well. Moving from a solitary grass or flower to trees, clusters of plants, and the broader landscape, the suite reflects Darden’s attentive way of looking. His spare, immediate lines retain the intimacy of drawing while the etched plate gives each image its own physical presence. This suite is available in a hand-built portfolio box by Jace Graf of Cloverleaf Studio.

Darden's newest suite of etchings is titled Rearview and will make its debut this Saturday as well. It is available only as a boxed suite of nine white-ground etchings that accompany Smith’s newest multi-media project encompassing an album of new music, a book, video, etchings and paintings.

While we have Darden's flat file open, we'll also be showing the wide array of etchings and monoprints he has created here at Flatbed. Some have been hand-colored. Link to see what we have listed by Darden on our website. (DARDEN SMITH)
You don't have to arrive knowing about art, about the artist or what you want to collect. Come meet the artist and hear more about art making and how printmaking is a part of his practice. Come look. That's where collecting begins.