Kay Smith: Holding Hands with History: Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Art Exhibition

February 5 - March 13, 2009
In celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, you are cordially invited to a tour in watercolors of the places that shaped him and the America he knew.

The 22 paintings in this exhibit help viewers explore places of importance in Lincoln's life, from the homestead of his father and the tavern where he met the woman thought to be his first love, to the Old State Capitol in Springfield, site of his "House Divided" speech. Other paintings echo the newly-forged myth and wonder of the America that Lincoln knew as a young man, such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and a new portrait of Black Hawk, the Sauk Indian leader, that will receive its public unveiling as part of this exhibit.

The first of Kay Smith's historical paintings was created in 1971, as part of a collection of books about the American Bicentennial. Since then, she has traveled to more than 250 places of historical importance, enduring swarms of mosquitoes, frigid temperatures, and even (on one occasion) an angry bull in order to capture the unique spirit of each site through watercolors. Lincoln was a figure of reverence in Vandalia, Illinois, where she grew up, but it was while painting a Revolutionary War icon that Smith discovered her true purpose as an artist:

"By the time I left Valley Forge, I had changed my whole concept and attitude about what it meant to be an American," she says. "About what they went through and suffered, about the discipline and charisma Washington had. And I thought, that's all part of my background. That is real, that is something you can't touch, but you feel it...I found my mission. That's the kind of thing I will tell."

In 1994, Smith was given a lifetime designation as an Artist Laureate by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Her work has been shown throughout the United States, including the Yorktown Victory Center and the Daley Center, and she recently completed a commission for the Lincoln Park Conservatory. She currently teaches watercolor and pastel painting at the Old Town Art Center.