Colette Odya Smith

Biography

Colette Odya Smith is a widely exhibited, award-winning artist working primarily in soft pastels to create her 'intimate landscapes' that skirt the edge of realism and abstraction. A former art teacher, she is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America, the Pastel Society of New Mexico, Wisconsin Visual Artists, and the League of Milwaukee Artists. She has received numerous awards in national exhibitions, and has had her work featured in The Pastel Journal, International Artist (formerly Pastel Artist International), Pratique des Arts and American Artist magazines. She has served as a judge/juror, most recently for The Pastel Journal’s "Pastel 100" and is a contributor to the book "Painting Sunlight and Shadows with Pastels" by Maggie Price.

Her work is in numerous corporate and private collections including Northwestern Mutual, Plexus Corporation, Acuity Insurance, and Deloitte and Touche LLP. She is in the permanent collection of the Wichita Center for the Arts.

She is represented by the Katie Gingrass Gallery in Milwaukee, Woodwalk Gallery in Door County, WI, and Brio Gallery in Galena, IL

Ms. Smith lives in Wauwatosa, WI, where she enjoys gardening, community involvement, and from which she strikes out when she can to indulge her love of travel.