erol Sibley Warthen lived and worked in her studio at 77 Commercial Street for 35 summers, overlooking the bay and Long Point, with the Coast Guard Station half a block away. Her view is reflected in the many white-line prints which she produced while living there. I spent many summers gazing out over the water, swimming beyond the jetty to the end of Captain Jack's Wharf. These images were burned into my consciousness—the cool lapping water, the squishy sand, the sailboats at Flyer's, the hot and sultry air—so much so that I returned as an adult to raise my family and make my art in this town.

Because Provincetown is the birthplace of the white-line print, and because her imagery is so ingrained in my being, and because my grandmother provided me with a role model for printing in this manner, it was only logical that I returned here to print those images that became such a part of me. Living in this special place, with its rich art heritage and wonderful people, has given me a deep well from which to draw, its imagery constantly calling forth new ways of revisiting tradition.

KATHI SMITH 2008

photos courtesy Kathi Smith