553 Fate Morrison Road
Fox, Arkansas  72051
870-213-1681
Contact: mariatsmith559@gmail.com

Maria Smith was born in Havana, Cuba. While she was a child, her family moved to the United States to escape Castro’s Communist regime. Maybe it is her Latin roots that give her an eye for color. For years Maria specialized in mosaic tile, but about five years ago she was introduced to the lampwork method of making glass beads, and she was hooked. The fluid consistency of molten glass and the amazing color combinations available to her means that she is always coming up with new and beautiful designs both for her beads and the exquisite jewelry she makes with those beads. Maria gets her color ideas from what she sees around her—a bird, a butterfly, a flower, a beautiful sunset; then she uses those same color combinations to create one-of-a-kind beads which then become beautiful necklaces, bracelets, or single beads.

Maria lives with her musician husband, Dave Smith, on a mountaintop farm in the rural community of Fox in north-central Arkansas. When not playing with glass in her little log workshop she enjoys gardening, hiking, and floating the Buffalo and White Rivers.

“Time flies by while I am in the shop, it’s always just one more before I quit for the day”.