Janice Smith is an American

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

maker and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Early life and education

Smith took a women's wood shop class in high school and became hooked on woodworking. She attended

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

and studied under furniture maker

Alphonse Mattia Alphonse Mattia (1947 – April 10, 2023) was an American furniture designer, woodworker, sculptor and educator. In 2005, Alphonse Mattia was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council (ACC). Biography Alphonse Mattia was born in 1947 in P ...

. She later attended the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

, studying furniture making under

Tage Frid Tage Frid (30 May 1915 – 4 May 2004) was a Danish-born woodworker, educator and author who influenced the development of the studio furniture movement in the United States. His design work was often in the Danish-modern style, best known for h ...

. Smith is a member of the Furniture Society and was an early artist involved with the American studio furniture movement.

Art and design career

After graduating college in 1981 she worked for a small furniture maker and then a Rhode Island boat builder. Eventually she started her own furniture making business creating custom furniture. Today she continues to run a business, working alongside her husband Reuben Wade to design and build interiors and commercial remodeling. In her work, Smith uses sculptural forms and aims to engage the viewer in all three dimensions, creating work that is both functional and exciting. Her work is dynamic, often geometric and angular or with sweeping lines and curves. In her furniture work, Smith uses Italian-made composite veneered plywood. To create thickness and dimension in her work, she often uses

torsion box A torsion box consists of Sandwich theory, two thin layers of material (skins) on either side of a lightweight core, usually a grid of beams. It is designed to resist Torsion (mechanics), torsion under an applied load. A hollow core door is probabl ...

es - hollow structures with a frame-like core and a plywood "skin", veneered to look solid. The financial freedom from teaching at the University of Kansas allowed her to explore new directions with her work. Smith's work has been featured in

Wexler Gallery Wexler may refer to: * Wexler (surname), including a list of people with the name * Mount Wexler, United States * Wexler (crater) Wexler is a lunar impact crater that lies across the south-southeast limb of the Moon. In this location not much d ...

in Philadelphia and galleries and exhibitions across the country.

Teaching

Smith taught industrial and interior design full-time at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

from 1992 to 1998. She has taught part-time at

Bucks County Community College Bucks County Community College (Bucks) is a public community college in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1964, Bucks has three campuses and online courses: a main campus in Newtown, an "Upper Bucks" campus in the town of Perkasie, and a " ...

Moore College of Art and Design Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-ed ...

, and

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

. She also has taught carpentry to Philadelphia youth through the Mural Arts' Restorative Justice program. At the

American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly maga ...

conference held in Philadelphia in 2019, Smith spoke on a panel about

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

hosted by Jennifer-Navva Milliken alongside woodworkers

Laura Mays Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a bay on ...

Meg Bye Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Megatron, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer), a Japanese singer *Meg Cabot (born 1967), American author of romantic and paranormal fiction *Meg Burton Cahill (b ...

Emily Bunker Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...

Fo Wilson Folayemi "Fo" Debra Wilson is an American interdisciplinary artist, designer, and academic administrator. Her practice includes work as a furniture designer and maker, installation artist, muralist, and graphic designer. Wilson is the first assoc ...

(also known as Folayemi Wilson), and

Sarah Marriage Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious ...

of A Workshop of Our Own.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Janice Living people Bucks County, Pennsylvania Crafts educators University of Kansas faculty American furniture makers Rhode Island School of Design alumni Virginia Commonwealth University alumni American woodworkers Women woodworkers American furniture designers Year of birth missing (living people) People from Philadelphia 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists American women academics