Whimsical Wonders: Fairy House from Nature

by Sally J Smith

The Sheldon Museum presents Whimsical Wonders: Fairy Houses from Nature by Sally J Smith, May 14 — September 1, 2019 featuring a selection fairy houses created by environmental artist Sally J Smith. Smith started making fairy houses at a young age. She went on explorations in the woods with her father, the renowned photographer Clyde H. Smith. She lives in Westport, NY, and grew up in Shelburne, VT. As a child, she was given the freedom to explore her rural home which led to her inspiration.

While Smith works in many other formats, including watercolor, digital media and photography, she decided to reunite with her childhood passion of fairy house building about a decade ago. She now considers herself an environmental artist working to bring her viewers back to nature. Smith considers making environmental art a way to “[keep] the lines of communication open between [herself] and whatever natural forces may be present in the landscape.”

Many of her sculptures are made out of materials that she finds and gathers herself in the forests near her Westport studio, located between the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain.  Her fairy houses range from 3 ½ inches to 12 feet tall, but most fall within 12-18 inches. They take hours to make, yet Smith says, “It’s an art form, and like any art form, you can disappear into it and spend hours at it, and you don’t realize that time has gone by.” From a Japanese-style teahouse made with ferns and flowers to a cottage using delicate autumn twigs, grasses and milkweed pods, all of her homes are created with an equal level of precision and detail.

Smith aims to invoke “a deeper respect and love for the Earth,” stressing the need for us to “reconnect with the Earth” in order to survive. This is part of the reason that she decided to write her book, Fairy Houses: How to Create Whimsical Homes for Fairy Folk. While building fairy houses has become a popular crafting method, Smith hopes to help people slow down and find a “meditative state” in a culture that’s increasingly “fast-paced.”

Artist’s Statement

Born the eldest of three equally talented daughters to an architect/nature photographer father and a mother who has a life-long passion for flowers and gardens, I was destined to have a deep reverence for the environment and an innate understanding of what the Japanese call "Wabi-sabi"; the art of finding beauty in the imperfections and elegance of nature and of accepting the natural cycles of growth, flourishing, death and rebirth.

Early years were spent blissfully engaged with all manner of creativity and adventure as I grew up in the forests, pastures and gardens of Shelburne Farms, in Shelburne, VT.  In those days we were given complete freedom to play, explore and engage with the hundreds of acres of exceptional landscape and the mythic buildings which dotted the farm - relics of the late 19th century Gilded age designed by the prominent architect, Robert H. Robertson. I believe that growing up with these remarkable buildings and out in the wilds of nature laid the seeds for what would later become my art/career path of expression: the building of faerie houses and other environmental sculpture works.

As with all mythic adventures, the traveler must go away before they can return home and so it was with me. I was fortunate to be able to make my living as a professional watercolor artist for 22+ years and to travel to and live in many sacred and magical locations. I also explored the internal landscape as well with deep excursions into mythology, meditation and ancient studies which captured my imagination, fed back into my creative work and have become a part of this matrix.

Having returned to the northern forests once more, and being blessed with a quiet and secluded studio in the Adirondacks, my creative process continues to expand and unfold. I love living on the fringe of what is considered "normal" and continue to thrive in the liminal spaces between the visible and invisible realms where magic still exists and the flow of timelessness is experienced regularly. I am a bridge person, of that I am sure....the rest is still a work-in-progress.