Norma "Randi" Smith
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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy/Hidatsa and Mandan
MEDIUM: Painting/Illustration
BIOGRAPHY
Norma Randi Smith is a multi-faceted artist, homesteader, and entrepreneur from Maine. A transplant from her father’s clan in North Dakota of the Hidatsa and Mandan people, she moved to her Passamaquoddy mother’s tribal lands of Sipayik as a young girl and was raised on the beautifully rugged coastline of Washington County. There she learned the importance of family, community ways, and customs. However, with the other tribal origins and inspiration of her father, Randi took after her father’s artistic ability of creativity and drawing; this ability continued as she turned into an adult and felt like her last connection as her father died of a tragic death at a young age. Some of the content that Norma paints is inspired by her father’s tribal people, history, and customs but also is influenced by the rich history of the Passamaquoddy people and the beautiful contrasts of those tribes.
Norma is a graduate from the University of Maine at Machias with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary fine arts with a focus on painting. She uses oil and acrylic paints on canvas with a focus on her heritage of both sides of her indigenous families. She also likes to incorporate the idea and use of energetic intent in her paintings by employing sigils while painting or other esoteric means to portray her feelings of ancestry, heritage, connection, and healing. Painting for Randi is her way to get closer and convey the importance of roots, tribal customs, and learning. Her painting style is a mix of abstract and realism. She likes to paint on a larger scale and likes to paint everyday beauty that comes from nature, life, dreams, and spirituality.
