Rebekah L. Smith grew up in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, a rural farming community in the Laurel Mountains. Her lifelong interest in art was enhanced by an appreciation for country antiques and folk art at home. She became a serious student of the Rufus Porter style and Pennsylvania decorative painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries. She has combined these with old surfaces to evolve her own style.
The objects Smith paints are early boxes, furniture that needs redoing, and early tinware. She continues the art of the itinerant limner in her wall murals, faux graining, and stenciling in homes. She also paints locally handcrafted bride’s boxes and overmantels built from early boards, and does custom work for clients who have furniture and smalls they want painted.
Each piece is Smith’s own interpreted design and one-of-a-kind. She researches and studies designs in museums and antiques shops, touching and looking at original surfaces. Smith strives for artistic excellence and museum quality.
She lives with her husband, Bruce, and their three daughters in the Western Reserve of Ohio, where they are restoring an 1838 home.
The entry deadline for the 2023 Directory of
Traditional American Crafts has passed. We are now processing entries and submitting
them to our jurors. We will contract entrants after the jurors have made ther decisions.