About the artists

WINI SMART has received over 30 awards, and is listed in Who's Who in American Art and the World's Who's Who of Women.  She has operated the Smart Studio gallery in Maine since 1967 and opened the Florida gallery in 1980.

Her paintings have found a ready market with locals and visitors alike.  Paintings are in private and public collections in nearly every state and in Canada, South America, Europe, and England (including the collection of the Queen of England.)  She has painted eight corporate murals.

Wini Smart has a heritage of sea life.  Her ancestors owned or sailed schooners from Maine to Cuba.  She was born in New Jersey; her parents farmed and were wholesale florists.  This background is apparent in Wini's love for the sea, nature and gardens.

The artist continues to live near the sea, which is very important to her.  Her studio home in Maine is on the water's edge on Cranberry Island.  She had two ponds dug and planted a water garden.  Her winter Florida home is on a bayou, full of birds, satisfying her desire to be on the water.  Both locations offer much inspiration and are featured in paintings.

The artist has taken many painting trips with other artists, or with her daughters, to paint en plein air in Paris, Provence, Venice, the coasts of Italy and England, the Greek Isles, and the White Towns of Andelusia, Spain.

She has done some writing and her book, Whidden's and Old Boca Grande, was published in 2004.  Other publications benefit the Cranberry House, a new museum for the Great Cranberry Island Historical Society, of which she is president.  She is past president of the Boca Grande Art Alliance, and remains on the board of directors.

Wini's daughter, Gail Cleveland, also a painter, is carrying on the tradition by managing and now owning the Smart Studio gallery in Northeast Harbor, Maine.  The gallery continues showing Wini Smart's paintings.

Résumé

Studies

• Philadelphia College of Art
• Art Students League of New York City
• Also with Don Stone, Mario Cooper, Nick Reale, and Tom Nicholas.

Solo Exhibits

• In Pennsylvania
  • Union League, Philadelphia
• In New Jersey
  • Asbury Park Society of Fine Arts
  • Guild of Art
  • Central Jersey Bank
  • Georgian Court College
  • Monmouth County Library
  • Toms River Historical Society
• In Maine
  • Northeast Harbor Library
• In Florida
  • Art League of Marco Island
  • Boca Grande Art Alliance
• Exhibited in many juried shows in New York City; also museums in Newark, Morristown, Montclair, and Trenton, and most major colleges.

Murals

• In New Jersey
  • Toms River National Bank (2)*
  • Natural Gas Company, Freehold*
  • Natural Gas Company, Red Bank*
  • Freehold Boro Hall
  • First Presbyterian Church, Freehold
  • American Hotel, Freehold
• In Florida
  • Boca Bay Pass Club

* Offices now closed, murals relocated

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GAIL CLEVELAND had an early introduction to the world of art when as a young child she accompanied her mother, artist Wini Smart, to museums, galleries, and on painting excursions.

Living in Maine, summers, and Florida, winters constantly inspires; being able to paint outdoors year round is a must for this artist.  In addition to her formal art training, this third-generation artist has been studying art and nature for over forty years.  Her firsthand experiences are expressed in her award-winning watercolors, oils, acrylics, and limited edition prints, now included in numerous collections throughout the United States and Europe.

Gail's e-mail address is: