Sierra Smith works on a project Friday.
Sierra Smith has been interested in art since she was a little girl.
“I was forever in trouble when I was little because I was always taking something apart and putting it back together again in ways that it didn’t belong,” she said. “It’s been a lifelong obsession,” she said.
Throughout high school, Smith exposed herself to art every chance she got, taking classes, making still lives, portraits, sculptures, etc.
But she later discovered the media she truly enjoyed working with was much more rugged than clay and paint.
About four years ago, Smith made a collage of belongings from her father and things from her childhood. She didn’t know where to begin, but ended up forming a wreath out of barbed wire and attaching the items to preserve memories.
“I did that for myself just because I had a lot of things that were from my father,” she said. “I wanted to display those things. I wanted access to be reminded of them.”
She displayed it on the front of her home, where it remains today.
But Smith soon found she enjoyed making art using barbed wire and retired ranch equipment.
“I am driven to be creative. I don’t want to paint, but when you are an artist at heart, you have a compulsion to do something creative,” she said.
Smith began fashioning more pieces using old barbed wire and other items she found. She used those pieces to decorate her guest house. Smith said her art was popular among the people who stayed in the guest house.
Smith said many of her guests complimented her pieces. Some encouraged her to display her work in the Black Hawk Gallery, something Smith was reluctant to do at first. Smith said she was afraid no one would be interested in her art.
Smith said she pushed past her fear and began displaying her art in Black Hawk last year. Last month, Smith sold 12 of her pieces, she said.
Working hard
There are a lot of elements to Smith’s art work. First, she must find materials, like old barbed wire, rusted horse shoes, old saddle parts, wood, nails and anything that represents the history and character of the west. Smith then works with the items, not always an easy task, especially in the case of barbed wire, Smith said.
The barbed wire Smith works with is old, and has been in a coil for several years.
“When it has been in a coil like that for so many years, it doesn’t want to be in any other position. So, unwinding it and bending it takes a lot of work,” Smith said.
But once Smith has all the elements, she can begin her favorite part of the entire process — putting it all together.
“It just comes together piece by piece. There is no plan to it, and that’s the fun part is figuring out how it all goes together,” she said.
Smith is puts together another collage Friday using horse shoes, old wire, and of course, barbed wire. She is almost finished with the piece, but is adding a coat of sealant to protect the art work. The walls of her small art studio are filled with pieces she had made previously. Smith said she will sometimes make three pieces a day.
Displaying history
Smith said one of her favorite things about working with old barbed wire and other old rusted items is the story each item holds.
“I like anything that’s rusty. Anything that speaks of what it was like 100 years ago, when people were here trying to scratch a living out of nothing,” she said.
One of the pieces hanging in the Smith guest house is that of a bottle framed with barbed wire and old wood. The bottle tells a story, Smith said.
“I don’t know what that story is, but I can imagine what it could be,” she said.
The history her art holds is valuable, she said.
“It doesn’t have to be polished to have value,” she said. “Something like an old medicine bottle that you found in the dirt has a story. It has a history. It has meaning, and it’s part of the past in this part of the world.”
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