JEANNE ROSIER SMITH grew up in Maryland, studied English and French at Georgetown University, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in English at Tufts.  From the age of fourteen, she’s also been an artist, taking painting classes in college and painting whenever she could.  After teaching college English for ten years, Jeanne decided to switch to a full-time career in art in 2005.  She teaches workshops around the country and internationally and devotes most of her time to painting in pastel.  She is best known for her seascapes and coastal landscapes.

She says her most recent work is “a culmination of my decade-long obsession with water.  Like swimming, painting is a full-immersion experience.  With this new series, I’m diving deeper, bringing the ocean closer. I want to taste the salt in the air, hear the waves, feel the wind and dive right in.  My process begins by closed-cropping my reference images until they’re blurry. I rely on memory and knowledge of body surfing as much as on my photos.  My painting process begins with wet alcohol washes of dry pastels, then a gradual building of layers of dry pastel on top, some thick juicy swipes, some light, airy glazes, and some liquid splatters of dissolved pastel.” 

Jeanne’s work is currently part of a six-museum National Exhibition Tour with the American Society of Marine Artists, through October 2021.  In Sept 2019 Jeanne was Cape Ann Museum Fellow and Resident Artist, living and painting on the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, an experience that had a profound impact on her recent work.  She has worked closely with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for two recent pastel exhibitions, serving as educational consultant for their popular 19th Century French Pastels exhibit, and presenting gallery talks and painting demonstrations. Jeanne has won numerous top awards, including first place in Pastel Journal magazine’s 2019 Top 100 landscape competition, an honor she also took in 2017.  She is a Master Artist with the Copley Society, a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the American Society of Marine Artists, an IAPS Master’s Circle Member, and a member of New York’s Salmagundi Club.  Jeanne has exhibited work in museums nationwide and her work is in collections on six continents.  

Jeanne was featured in the August 2018 Pastel Journal, for which she has also been a regular contributor.  Jeanne offers workshops in her Sudbury MA pastel studio, across the US and in Europe. Upcoming 2020-2021 Workshops are scheduled for Texas, NYC, Massachusetts, Ontario CA, New Jersey, Southern California, and Portugal. 

Jeanne Rosier Smith PSA, IAPS-MC, CM, ASMA 

Selected Awards

Bold Brush Outstanding Pastel, February 2020

Sylvia Maria Glesmann Award for Seascape, Salmagundi Club 2020

First Place, Pastel Journal Magazine Top 100 Landscape (with seascape paintings), 2017 and 2019

Salmagundi Club Purchase Award, Thumbbox Show 2018

Top 100 Pastel Journal Magazine Honorable Mention, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018

Bold Brush Finalist July 2018

Bold Brush Fav 15% Nov, Dec 2016, Feb, March, Apr, May, June, Sept, Oct, Nov 2017, Jan, Mar, May, June, August, Sept, Nov, Dec 2018

PPSCC Award, Renaissance in Pastel 2018

Membership Award, Purely Pastel Show, Connecticut Pastel Society 2017

Airfloat Award, For Pastels Only, Cape Cod Nat. Show 2018

Connecticut Pastel Society Award, For Pastels Only, Cape Cod Nat. Show 2017

Award of Excellence, IAPS Web Show 2016

First Place, Copley Society Winter Show, 2016

Jerry’s Artarama Award, Connecticut Pastel Society Renaissance in Pastel National Show 2016

Wholesale Framers Award, Connecticut Pastel Society Renaissance in Pastel National Show 2015

Artists’ Magazine Finalist, Landscape, 2014, 2015, 2017

Art Renewal Center Competition Finalist, Landscape, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Best in Show, Signature Show at Cape Cod Museum of Art 2014

New Hampshire Pastel Society Award, Painting New England in Pastel 2013

Salmagundi Club Award of Merit, 2013, 2016

Best in Show Prix de Pastel, IAPS Gallery Show, Brea CA, 2012      

Grand Prize, International Artist Magazine, Seascapes 2012  

Gold Medal, Art Spirit Foundation, American Artists Prof League, NYC 2011

CPS Members' Award, Renaissance in Pastel National Exhibit, 2012

Judges' Choice Award, Copley Society 2012

Award of Excellence, For Pastels Only, 2010 Cape Cod Nat. Show    

Award of Excellence, Roddy Open, Concord Art Assn, 2008 and 2010

Selected Recent Exhibitions

American Impressionist Society 21st National, 2020

American Society of Marine Artists, Principle Gallery Charleston, 2018

Master Circle Exhibition, IAPS 2017, 2019

Butler Institute of American Art “Enduring Brilliance” PSA Select Show 2017

Pastel Society of America “Enduring Brilliance” National Show, 2005, 2013-2020

American Society of Marine Art Six-Museum Tour, 2016-2018, 2019-2021

Guild of Boston Artists Regional Competition, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019

For Pastels Only Cape Cod Nat'l Show, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

International Assoc. of Pastel Societies Web Show, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

Renaissance in Pastel, CPS, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018

America's Parks National Museum Exhibition Tour 2013 & 2016

Academic Artists Association, Springfield, MA 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015

Two-Person Show, Powers Gallery, March 2014

Boston Symphony Hall, with Copley Society “Pictures at an Exhibition,” 2013

Laumeister Competition, Bennington Museum, Bennington VT, 2012, 2013

International Association of Pastel Societies Gallery Show, Brea CA, 2012

Pastels By Invitation, Chatham MA 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

American Artists Professional League, NYC, 2011, 2012, 2014

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Juried Show, NYC 2005, 2010, 2012, 2014

Professional Honors

Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Consultant to Pastel Exhibition & Gallery Presentation, Spring & Summer 2018

Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Pastel Demonstration October 2018, November 2016

Copley Society/Cape Ann Museum Resident, 2019

Designated Copley Master, Copley Society of Art, 2018

Designated American Society of Marine Artists Signature Status 2017

Designated International Association of Pastel Societies Master Circle 2014

Designated Pastel Society of American Signature Status, 2012

Salmagundi Club private collection purchase, 2018

Developed Signature Set of 30 Seascape Terry Ludwig Soft Pastels

Developed Signature Set of 80 Land & Sea Richeson Soft Pastels

Color Consultant, Portrait 60 collection, Terry Ludwig Pastels

Publications

Artists Magazine 5 page article October 2020

Pastel Journal 10-page feature article, June 2018

Pratique des Arts Cover artist and feature article, French art magazine, Oct 2018.

Judge, three national pastel society shows 2017-2018

International Artist Magazine, December 2017 Seascape Demonstration feature article

Pratique des Arts, August 2017 feature article/interview

International Artist Magazine, Grand prize winner, Oct/Nov 2012

Pastel Journal Feature article, August 2012 

American Art Collector Feature article, August 2012 and August 2017

Judge, International Association of Pastel Societies Web Show 2012

Memberships:  IAPS Master Circle, Signature Member of Pastel Society of America, American Society of Marine Artists, Connecticut and Cape Cod Pastel Societies; Copley Master, Salmagundi Club Artist Member

Gallery Representation        

Anderson Fine Art Gallery, St. Simons Island, GA

Cecil Byrne Gallery, Charleston SC

Gallery 31 Fine Art, Orleans MA

Powers Gallery, Acton MA

Susan Powell Fine Art, Madison CT

Copley Society of Art, Boston MA

Teaching Experience

Self-published 3-DVD instructional video series on seascapes, picked up for electronic distribution by F+W Media/Artists Network TV.

2018 Workshops:  Massachusetts, Florida, South Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Texas, New Hampshire, California, France

2019 Workshops:  New Mexico, Virginia Beach, Massachusetts, Italy

2007-2017: Owner/operator Jeanne Rosier Smith Pastel Studio, Taught ongoing weekly classes to up to 36 students in three classes for over ten years in my home studio.

Education

duCret School of Art, and New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, NJ, 2003-2005

Workshop Study with: Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Richard McKinley, Claudia Seymour, Kim Lordier, Susan Ogilvie

B.A. in English, Georgetown Univ. 1988, Ph.D. in English, Tufts Univ, 1994