By DOMINIQUE WALD dwald@dnews.com
Debi Robinson-Smith always knew she wanted to be an artist, but she also believed she’d never be good enough to make an actual living out of it. Regardless of whether or not Robinson-Smith can make a living out of her art, it’s easy to see she has made it her life, and she is more than willing to share her art with others.
Growing up in Mountain Home, Idaho, then attending college in southern Utah, Robinson-Smith was always confident she’d find herself living on the Palouse.
“I knew I was going to end up here because this is where they had a wonderful sci-fi and fantasy convention every year,” Robinson-Smith said. “I came to MosCon 1, and I knew I’d be living here, and that was 29 years ago.”
Although the MosCon sci-fi convention left Moscow for good years ago, Robinson-Smith has not.
She now looks to the Palouse winter with excitement for the Wild Women Winter Art Series at the Dahmen Barn.
From 1-4 p.m. Sunday at the Dahmen Barn, Smith will teach a pop-up card and book class, an art form she’s been fascinated with since her daughter was a child. The class will focus on how to make pop-up greeting cards, and Smith welcomes everyone young and old, as long as students keep a few things in mind.
“It’s OK to make mistakes. No really good art is perfect, there’s no such thing,” Robinson-Smith said. “It’s about enjoying the process as much as having a final product.”
The process is one that includes starting with an idea or topic in mind to base the pop-up art on, then gathering materials, which will be provided in the class. Robinson-Smith’s sample pop-up work is titled “Welcome to Montana,” and the idea came to her one day when she saw a map of Montana.
Pop-up art is where Robinson-Smith’s talent begins, but it certainly isn’t where it ends. Robinson-Smith spends time doing other forms of art from altered books to oil and watercolor paintings to assemblages, which consists of gathering scraps recycled materials and putting them together.
“It’s satisfying to start with three boxes that look like junk, but at the end of the day have a piece of art,” Robinson-Smith said.
If You Go
For those with a touch of cabin fever or a burning desire to be creative the Palouse Women Artists’ Wild Women Winter Art Series will take place at 1 p.m. every Sunday through March 29 at Artisans at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown.
Each class is three hours long and costs $25, not including additional costs some classes may require for materials. Those who do not register online and show up the same day of the class will be charged an extra $10. More information on the series or registration is available online at www.artisanbarn.org.
