Of Stars and Flowers: Alyssa Smith’s Meditations on the Earthly and the Infinite

By Katie Dunn

Sun contributor

There is something entirely intimate about stepping into an artist’s studio. It is a rare, almost disarming experience—less like encountering finished work and more like entering a living process. Paintings are not yet resolved, forms still in conversation with their maker; everything feels suspended in a state of becoming. To be present in that space is an act of trust, a quiet invitation to witness what is usually unseen. It’s the moment where the work is still alive with possibility, where the magic is not yet complete, but actively unfolding.

When I stepped into Alyssa Smith’s Traverse City studio in for a preview of her upcoming exhibition, Of Stars and Flowers, at V Gallery in Omena, I entered a space that felt both serene and animated. Perched high above the world outside, the studio carried the steady cadence of creation: paintings leaning against walls, ceramic pieces resting nearby, and carefully arranged collections of plants, dried flowers, and gathered objects. The windows were flung open, allowing birdsong to drift through the room—something Smith spoke of with affection, describing the sounds of nature as a constant presence and source of inspiration from her elevated vantage point.

Among the many works I experienced in Smith’s studio, each imbued with its own sense of wonder, one piece drew me deeper into the world she is creating. Everything is the Beloved seemed to hold the spiritual and visual language of the exhibition. It is at once expansive and intimate, grounded and otherworldly, inviting contemplation rather than simple observation.

An immense diptych, Everything is the Beloved, has the presence of a mural—an immersive field of color and light that seems to open beyond the boundaries of the canvas itself. Rendered in layers of leafy greens, muted blues, and soft ochre tones, the work evokes a realm where the earthly and celestial converge. Forms suggest flowers, foliage, and a luminous, constellated sky, yet they move beyond representation; they become symbols of transformation and renewal.

While Everything is the Beloved serves as a central point of entry into Smith’s artistic vision, the exhibition expands outward through a cohesive body of paintings and sculptural works exploring themes of nature, growth, and intuition. The paintings are executed in safflower oil on linen, canvas, and wood panels, while a series of sculptural ceramic works extends Smith’s meditation into three-dimensional expression. Among these are handcrafted ceramic flowers, including a grouping of 14 smaller blossoms and two larger, more commanding pieces.

At first glance, the title Of Stars and Flowers might suggest something decorative, ornamental, or sentimental—a celebration of visual pleasure alone. Yet this exhibition offers a glimpse into the larger oeuvre of Smith’s artistic practice, where beauty consistently serves as a gateway to deeper conceptual inquiry. The flowers and stars are not simply subjects; they become vehicles for exploring interconnectedness and awareness. The work’s power comes from the intelligence and intention beneath that beauty.

Smith describes the flowers in the work as a metaphor for an awakening—a process of becoming more fully present to oneself. “I would say the show revolves around the idea of flowers as a metaphor for the ‘flowering’ or consciousness, or a way of coming alive to oneself,” she explains.

As Smith painted, the imagery moved beyond the earthbound forms of flowers and into a celestial realm. “As I started to paint the flowers, these star-like shapes started to emerge in the sky, and I felt an expansion of the idea from the earth to the sky.”

That connection between the grounded and the infinite became central to the exhibition. “I like this connection between the earthen flowers and the celestial stars because we are so connected and bound to the earth and so connected and bound to the stars… flowers and plants can help us process emotions and navigate difficult stages life. I think stars hold that ability as well,” Smith shares.

Of Stars and Flowers also represents a significant evolution in Smith’s practice. After years of creating smaller paintings, she found herself searching for a new sense of freedom and possibility.

“I’ve done hundreds of small paintings and was getting burned out,” she recalls. “It just wasn’t feeling as fun as it had in the past. I really was craving making larger work.”

Moving to a larger scale was deeply liberating for Smith. She describes the shift: “I feel like once I started painting big, it was like I could breathe again. Images got fleshed out more. There is literally and metaphorically more room to move. I think the larger work feels like walking into a portal.”

Smith’s work is informed by a range of art historical voices that span centuries and styles. She points to Odilon Redon (1840–1916) for his fantastical, deeply internal imagery. Claude Monet (1840–1926) serves as a touchstone for his close observation of flowers and the natural world, while Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) comes through more in execution than subject, particularly in his use of color. Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), with Primavera and Map of Hell—his intricate interpretations of mythology and Dante’s Inferno—offers a vocabulary of symbolism, allegory, and carefully constructed worlds that shapes Smith’s own approach to meaning and composition. Josef Albers (1888–1976), known for Homage to the Square series, provides Smith a way of understanding color as an emotional and perceptual experience; as Smith puts it, “his squares are spiritual to me.”

For longtime supporter and fellow artist Melanie Parke, Smith’s work occupies a space between the transcendent and the tangible. She describes it as “otherworldly and grounded at the same time,” noting that the immediate experience is one of being “washed in light and swept up in a very specific atmosphere.” Parke recalls the particular qualities of Smith’s palette, “a dusky, hazy if-you-blink-it-will-be-gone tone of yellow, an August green when the sun dips behind a hill,” as sensations that extend beyond the visual and into something emotional.

Living with one of Smith’s paintings, Parke says, has revealed that the work continues to unfold over time. She is especially drawn to Smith’s ability to make light feel almost material: “Here the eye can rest and move at the same time. Here the light is on the inside, not the outside.”

In Smith’s paintings, Parke sees an artist studying not only the appearance of the natural world, but its deeper structures—the ways plants, landscapes, and living things seem to be connected through light. That sense of discovery reflects what Parke finds most compelling about Smith’s practice. It is a curiosity that is “infectious, seductive, generous.”

Smith’s own story is as layered as the work she creates. Born in 1984 in Lille, France, near the Belgian border, she spent her early years moving between Europe and the United States. Her parents, Lonnie and Debbie Smith—Americans who had relocated from Omaha, Nebraska, to France in 1983—raised Smith and her five siblings across both continents. This transatlantic upbringing exposed her to a wide range of cultural landscapes and visual influences.

Smith went on to study art education at Taylor University in Indiana, earning her undergraduate degree in 2007. She later returned to Black Forest Academy, the boarding school in Kandern, Germany, where she had once been a student, to teach art. She continued her studies at the New York Academy of Art, earning a Master of Fine Arts in painting in 2015.

While pursuing her master’s degree, Smith encountered an unexpected medical barrier that would temporarily redirect the course of her artistic practice. She developed a debilitating, undiagnosed condition that made working with traditional oil paints impossible. Rather than stepping away from creativity altogether, Smith turned to farming, a new chapter that became both a creative and grounding practice.

Beginning in 2016 at her uncle’s goat farm in South Carolina, Smith immersed herself in the rhythms of cultivation. She later continued farming at Furman University Farm, Keith’s Farm in upstate New York, and Providence Farm in Eastport, Michigan. The experience deepened her connection to the earth, to cycles of growth and renewal, and to the colors, textures, and living forms that would continue to inform her work.

In 2018, Smith returned to France, where a chance encounter introduced her to oil pastels made with mineral wax rather than linseed oil—the traditional medium that had triggered her health issues. The discovery opened a path back to painting. Over time, she also learned of oil paints made with alternative oils, including safflower oil, allowing her to safely return to oil painting.

Smith’s journey eventually brought her to the Traverse City and Leelanau County area, where she settled in 2021 and established her studio practice. Drawn by the region’s landscape, its connection to water and land, and its community of makers and growers, Smith found a place that aligned with the values that had shaped her artistic path. It is here, in the environment that now surrounds her, that the vision behind Of Stars and Flowers ultimately emerged.

The setting for Of Stars and Flowers feels inseparable from Smith’s sensibility. Within V Gallery, her paintings and ceramic sculptures find a place that mirrors their own quiet intensity: a space where beauty, imagination, and deeper meaning can reveal themselves. Nestled along the shores of Lake Michigan in Omena, one of Leelanau County’s most distinctive corners, the gallery is situated within a small, tranquil village with a timeless quality all its own. Away from the pace of the region’s busier destinations, Omena carries a sense of stillness and reflection that feels naturally suited to Smith’s work.

When Smith first reached out to me in February about Of Stars and Flowers, the exhibition was still in its nascency. From those first conversations in the depths of winter to seeing the completed work arrive at the height of summer, I have witnessed the trajectory of an idea as it came to fruition. What began as an intuitive impulse developed into a deeply intentional exhibition—ethereal, yet meticulously considered. Of Stars and Flowers will be on view July 18 through July 28. An opening reception was held on July 18.