‘Soraya is off on her travels again’

It’s striking that whenever Marie Smith discusses her sculpture Soraya she employs the pronoun ‘she’ rather than ‘it’. It’s as if Marie has a genuine affection for her striking artwork, and sure why wouldn’t she?
Her bronze friend has recently been accepted for FACE 2020, an annual exhibition hosted by the Society of Portrait Scupltors in London, for which only 70 sculptural pieces are accepted - and of those, only 20 or so are permitted by non-society members. In short, this is some achievement by Marie, and she’s understandably thrilled.
“It’s big,” says Marie chatting over the phone from her studio on Cavan town’s Main Street. “It’s really big. I was delighted when I got the news. It would be considered very prestigious for what I do. So it’s an honour to be accepted.”
The piece will feature alongside works by some of the finest sculptors working today, and it’s not the first major exhibition that will be graced by this exquisite artwork. It’s little wonder Marie is so fond of Soraya.
“She’s almost taken on a life of her own. I put things up online - ‘Soraya is off on her travels again’,” says Marie, “and she gets such a great response. She was selected into the RHA annual exhibition, she’s been in Le Grand Nu Contest in Paris - so she was back in Ireland and then went back to Paris, then she was in Centre Culturel Irlandais, and now she’s in the Society of Portrait Scupltors in London.
“She’s doing alright,” says Marie breaking into a laugh. “She’s get around more than I do.”
Of course in these social distancing times nobody gets around a whole pile anymore. Not even Soraya. To gain admission for the London show, Marie first made an application and provided photos. The judging panel’s interest was piqued, so they requested to see the actual sculpture up close. Suitably impressed, an invitation was issued. However Covid-19 restrictions have since come into play and Soraya is now stranded in lockdown London.

The FACE 2020 exhibition, due to take place in La Galleria Pall Mall, London from May 11-16 has also fallen foul to the coronavirus. As a result the exhibition will instead be staged online. That the physical exhibition won’t happen has slightly disappointed Marie. 
“I was really looking forward to getting over for the private view. And it definitely would have made a better exhibition, because sculpture online,” she begins, and completes the sentence with a sigh. “You kind of need to see them, and feel them. But it’s the best everyone can do at the moment.”
Marie lived in Paris for a few years and it was while attending a life modelling session at the city’s Atelier Legendre that she created the basis of the piece ‘Soraya’, named after the real life model with whom Marie had worked on several occasions.
“She’s very very happy in her own skin,” Marie says of the French model. For this sculpture, the Cavan artist worked for over 20 hours directly from the model.
“This pose I suppose was influenced by Rodin’s Thinker. But it’s obviously a world away from that in the sense that she has a body type that doesn’t really fit perceived ideals. I think people are really drawn to that.”

Elevate
While Rodin’s Thinker is deep in concentration, Mari’s Soraya is in a serene state, lost in a reverie. It’s an intangible quality, but the hand of the sculptress can elevate the artwork beyond simply an accurate depiction of a woman in bronze. Marie, whose family are from the Lough an Leagh side of Kingscourt, agrees: “I worked on it for a long time after [the life modelling sessions] and there were things that changed slightly and it became a bit more stylised. And then it became whatever I wanted at the time, or whatever I needed at the time.”
The piece invariably connects with viewers too.
“People seem to find great comfort in her. She’s often described as a ‘real woman’ - ‘It’s lovely to see a real woman’.”
“I did an arts fair at the RDS last year and the comments that came from people were unbelievable. One woman said to me, ‘I feel better about myself when I look at her.’ That’s kind of a super-power really isn’t it, if you can make someone feel better about themselves?”
Marie explains that she was drawn to sculpture due to the hands-on, tactile nature of the creating process - “the whole feel of it”. The end result also has the viewer drawn to touching the sculpture.
“She does attact that definitely... When people see her they want to touch her - generally they do touch her.”

Tempted
Intriguingly the piece Soraya measures less than 30cm in height; its petite dimensions presents questions about perspectives on size and beauty. Is Marie tempted to create a much bigger version?
“I started one, I suppose she would be about half life size,” she says. “I started that a while back and it kind of got shelved, but I see it now that we’re all in lockdown - it’s still in the studio and I am very tempted to get her finished and get her out there. It would be a piece that could maybe go outside.”
Regardless of whether that piece materialises, Marie says she wants Soraya’s “story to continue”.
“I’ve tried different things since but I’m always drawn back to her, and I think I should continue with that sort of theme. It’s definitely been the more successful for me and I like doing it for me.”

For more on Marie Smith’s work, see: www.mariesmith.net