Gallerysmith

“I believe that we are all richer for having art in our lives. Art encourages people to look more closely; question more deeply; and it challenges and enhances our world outlook.”

Marita Smith is the founder and curator of Gallerysmith, a lofty and light-filled contemporary art gallery and a group of fifteen artist studios located in Abbotsford Street, North Melbourne.

“I worked at Arts Centre Melbourne as a curator of their public art collection of 1700 works for ten years before I opened my own gallery,” Marita explains.

“I made the move to the commercial sector because I wanted to work with artists on a long-term basis. I felt that I could support their careers and develop their practices by working with them more closely over a longer period.”

Marita and her team delight in showing art to anyone who is looking to start or add to an art collection, and she particularly loves it when locals drop in.

“We work with seasoned art collectors and guide first-time art buyers. Our agenda is to make everyone feel comfortable, even if they have never been to a gallery before.”

Marita lives in the North Melbourne area, and when it came time to open Gallerysmith, the city fringe location was perfect. She also loves the local community.

“North Melbourne is a special place. It has a big heart and a lovely community. It's a very open, warm, and welcoming place. When I opened Gallerysmith in 2008, it was already beginning to thrive, and I wanted to be part of that journey.”

Day to day, Marita is responsible for selecting the artists that she exhibits and building long-term relationships with them as well as with her art-buying clients.

The gallery’s clients are a combination of private collectors, curators, art consultants, and art enthusiasts from Melbourne, around Australia and as far as Asia, the UK and the US. Many are return clients who continually acquire from the gallery as they trust Marita’s curatorial eye.

The North Melbourne gallery offers three different gallery spaces and two annex areas, with exhibitions rotating once a month so people can return again and again and always see something different.

“I'm interested in artists who have something to say about history, about the environment, about human relations. There needs to be drive in their practice, and that needs to be quite profound. I'm not just looking for pretty pictures; I'm looking for interesting ways of telling stories, interesting ways of communicating.

“Every piece of art in this space is unique; that is the beauty of art. We have exclusive representation of our artists so the work you see at Gallerysmith is work that you can’t get anywhere else.”

Marita loves many aspects of her job. It’s stimulating and busy, but most importantly, she feels that she’s making a difference.

“We're making the world a better place. Gallerysmith supports the careers of over forty-five practitioners through the artists I represent and the studio spaces I hire out. I am here to facilitate them all to do what they do best, which is to be in the studio and focus on making work.

“I also particularly aim to support women artists in order to redress the gender imbalance in the visual arts world.

“I want to keep doing more for our artists, and that's exciting for me.”

Words by Joyce Watts & Photography by Anna Encio