alchemy of plants, soil and rocks

Chelsea Smith is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice weaves together storytelling, ancestry, and connection to the natural world. Working with a range of mediums—including hand-mulled pigments from her homeland, wool felt, natural dyes, beadwork, and digital illustration—her art is rooted in relationships: with the land, with memory, and with the intricate web of life she refers to as “all my relations.”

Guided by a deep reverence for nature’s quiet magic, Chelsea explores the parallels between the human body and the earth’s landscapes—the way tree roots stretch like veins beneath the soil, how ripples in sand mirror the soft lacing of stretch marks, and how cracked clay recalls the ridges of textured skin. Through these observations, her work seeks to illuminate the interconnectedness of all beings, both breathing and inert.

Her process is one of curiosity, experimentation, and devotion. Over the years, Chelsea has become a collector of practices: learning the stories of plants and their pigments, the alchemy of soils and stones, and the hidden histories embedded in natural materials. For her, the act of making art is inseparable from the act of learning—each brushstroke, bead, or thread carries the layered knowledge of land, water, sunlight, and relationships.

Chelsea’s practice continues to evolve alongside her exploration of ancestry, ecology, and humanness itself. Through craft and creation, she seeks to deepen her understanding of belonging—offering her work as a reflection of the ongoing story between people, place, and the more-than-human world.