Artist lives in the middle of her own eclectic personal gallery

We all have something — or somewhere — that fires up the serotonin just by holding it or seeing it: the woods where you grew up playing hide and seek, a Barbie Doll collection that dates back to the 1950s, a cabinet full of your mother’s old copper cookie cutters, the room in your house that makes you feel the most peaceful. In the feature “My Favorite Things,” we invite Northwest Arkansans to share those special things or places that brings them joy.

Today, we take a look at Emily Smith’s vibrant, eclectic art collection. Smith, an artist herself, is known for taking found and discarded objects many might see as trash and turning them into something beautiful. She started her art journey at the popular resale shop Cheap Thrills in Fayetteville, where she worked in visual merchandising. Smith is a frequent collaborator with the Idle Class magazine, where she serves as a stylist, and her art has been seen in many locations around Northwest Arkansas, including the Arts Center of the Ozarks, Tourmaline Urban Lofts in Bentonville and the Walker Stone House in downtown Fayetteville.

What do you collect?

I have been an avid collector of strange, abstract and eclectic art for the better part of 20 years, and have more recently begun adding to my collection by trading with other local artists. Being an artist myself, and so deeply immersed in the art world for so long, I have honed quite an ability to pinpoint exactly what I like: The weirder, the better.

What do people say about your collection? When most people enter my home for the first time, I believe they are taken aback mostly by the sheer fact that there is just so much to look at. Most visits

become a small gallery tour, where I talk about each piece, which thrift store or flea market I unearthed it from, or which amazing local artist made it for me, how much I paid for it, etc. … It’s always so very interesting to see people’s reactions to the space that I’ve curated. My eye and mind are constantly drawn to the interesting and thought-provoking, and art is supposed to elicit just those things. And to see people react to my art makes me happy in the most indescribable way.

Will you ever run out of room for your collection and, if so, do you have a plan in that event? I have curated vintage art for several local individual spaces and very much enjoy selecting art pieces to eventually gather into a cohesive, gallery-style collection. Decorating with art is a passion, and it is also a gloriously torturous compulsion; therefore, I have a constantly evolving collection, and when space runs out, there is a strong possibility that a museum is in my near future. Until then, I’m completely content fattening my collection until my home bursts at the seams, and helping clients add interest to their spaces with odd art, local art, sustainable art, vintage art… So long as it’s ART, I’m all in!

(Courtesy photo) “When most people enter my home for the first time, I believe they are taken aback mostly by the sheer fact that there is just so much to look at,” says Smith.

(Courtesy photo/Meredith Mashburn) Emily Smith not only creates art, she collects it, too. Her home is a carefully curated museum with an eclectic collection of art that spans genres, time periods and mediums.

(Courtesy photo) “Decorating with art is a passion, and it is also a gloriously torturous compulsion,” Smith says.

(Courtesy photo) “My eye and mind are constantly drawn to the interesting and thoughtprovoking, and art is supposed to elicit just those things,” says Smith.