Reformation
Kim Smith Claudel
Main Gallery
March 19 – May 9, 2026
Reception: Thursday, March 19, 5:30 – 7 PM
About the Exhibition
Portland-based artist Kim Smith Claudel returns to Corvallis—the site of her early formation as an artist at Oregon State University—with Reformation, a solo exhibition that engages painting as an active, evolving practice rather than a fixed object.
Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, Smith Claudel creates work that exists in deliberate flux. Her process-driven approach embraces the ephemeral, the decaying, and the mundane; building visual systems that resist completion. In Reformation, she brings this methodology into direct conversation with The Arts Center’s historic architecture, and her own formative years working in the space during college. Reformation is a process of re-forming material, as well as an act of challenging the rules we rarely question.
Artist Interview
TAC curator, Jennie Castle had the pleasure of catching up with Kim Smith Claudel prior to the installation of Reformation. Take a listen!
About the Artist
Kim Smith Claudel is an artist and visual designer based in Portland, Oregon. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including a recent solo exhibition (End Cycle) at The Vestibule in Seattle. Other recent solo exhibitions include The Painting Center (NY), Mt. Hood Community College (OR), Carnation Contemporary (OR), KyotoBA (Japan). Recent residencies include Building 5 in Portland and the Boston Center for the Arts. She holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She received an MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, where she was a Learning Innovation Fellow for her research into hands-on learning for computation in early childhood. She is a member of Carnation Contemporary Gallery and WAVE artist collective. Smith Claudel’s interdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, consistently exploring the intersection of process, materiality, and personal narrative.