Special Pop-Up Exhibition “Beneath the Surface”

Lily Pad Gallery is proud to announce the addition of Colette Odya Smith to its distinguished roster of artists. To celebrate this exciting new representation, the gallery will present “Beneath the Surface,” an introductory pop-up exhibition running March 21 through April 12, 2026.

A lifelong Wisconsin native and internationally recognized master pastelist, Smith brings nearly three decades of luminous landscape work to the gallery.. Her contemporary landscapes occupy the evocative space between realism and abstraction, inviting viewers into intimate encounters with water, rock, and foliage. Working in soft pastels layered over watercolor underpaintings, she reveals what she calls “the mysteries and miracles lying in plain sight”—transforming familiar Midwestern scenes into meditations on light, reflection, and hidden meaning.

“Colette’s work embodies everything we celebrate at Lily Pad Gallery,” said Julia Taylor, Gallery Executive Director. “Her deep connection to Wisconsin’s landscape, combined with her extraordinary technical mastery, creates paintings that reward both immediate appreciation and sustained contemplation. We’re thrilled to welcome her to our gallery family.”

Growing up in Milwaukee in a large working-class family, Smith found beauty in urban puddles and wayward weeds pushing through the cracks in the sidewalks. That eye for the profound within the ordinary has guided her artistic journey from a transformative pastel class at MIAD to international recognition. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, France, Germany, and China, earning over 70 awards and a place in the permanent collection of the Ming Gallery Museum of Pastel in Suzhou, China.

Smith holds the distinction of being honored by the world’s most prestigious pastel societies: Maître Pastelliste from la Société des Pastellistes de France, Master Pastelist from the Pastel Society of America, and Eminent Pastelist from the International Association of Pastel Societies. In 2014, she served as Guest of Honor at the Société des Pastellistes de France exhibition at Parc Caillebotte, the historic home of Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte.

“My heart knows there is more going on than simple appearance,” Smith has written of her work. “I feel compelled to explore what lessons are there to be learned.”

Her paintings, often depicting close views of water and stone without horizon lines, dissolve the boundary between looking down and looking in—between the physical world and something more essential beneath it.

Lily Pad Gallery invites collectors and art enthusiasts to welcome Colette Odya Smith and experience this special introduction to her extraordinary body of work.

Located in Milwaukee’s historic Third Ward, Lily Pad Gallery represents contemporary artists whose work reflects a deep engagement with place, material, and meaning. The gallery presents eight exhibitions annually and represents artists working across a range of media.

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