Carrie Mae Smith explores culinary implements and their historical and social implications through her painting practice. Smith’s delicate and luminous paintings often depict items from a particular museum, acquired from local estate sales, or that work with ingredients she herself will cook. Influenced by her experience as a chef and reflections on her life in the Northeastern United States, Smith's works serve as symbols of class, labor, friendship, and tradition.

Carrie Mae Smith was born in 1974 in Derby, CT, and currently lives and works in Upstate NY. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of Delaware, Newark, DE (2013), and a four-year certificate in painting and sculpture from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA (2005).

Her recent solo exhibitions include In the Collection of…, Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA and Locust Grove Estate, Poughkeepsie, NY (2021); Ordinary Objects, Art on Paper, Pier 36, NYC, presented by Gates of the West (2018); and Maternal Matters, in collaboration with Suzanne Schireson, Wilber Mansion Gallery CANO, Oneonta, NY (2017).

The artist has been in recent group shows such as Bischie, letters from 1925-1950, in collaboration with Molly Evans for Call and Response: Creative Interpretations of Wylie House, Bloomington, IN (2020); Beef Stew, A Permanent Installation on board the USS Olympia, Philadelphia, PA (2019); and A Place at the Table, The Smithy Gallery, Cooperstown, NY (2017).

Smith has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Clowes Fellowship Full Scholarship (2016), The Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Inc. Artist Grant (2014), and the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Artist Grant (2012).