Kim Smith
22 Plum Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com ~ 978-290-3804
kimsmithdesigns.com

Kim Smith is an award winning documentary filmmaker, environmental conservationist, photojournalist, author, illustrator, and an award winning landscape designer.

Recently completed films and awards:

•February 2022 Beauty on the Wing begins airing on over 270 public television stations nationwide. This represents 89 percent of US households and 23 of the top 25 markets.

•January 2022 Gold Award Spotlight Documentary Films Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

•May 2021 Environmental Award Toronto InternationalWomen Film Festival Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

•February 2021 Best Feature Film Providence Children’s Festival  Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

•November 2020 Best Documentary Boston International Kids Film Festival  Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly

•August 2020 Documentary release – Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

•Completed March 2020 Snowy Owl Film Project.

•May 2019, Kim was featured in Audubon Magazine for her work protecting and documenting Piping Plovers, “How Plover Chicks Born in a Parking Lot Spurred a City to Make Its Beach Safer.”

•October 2018, Kim was interviewed by the BBC and PBS for her work in documenting the Monarch Butterflies. She worked with the show’s producers in writing and creating the story, providing film footage from her forthcoming film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly for the BBC produced show “Autumnwatch: New England.”

•April 2018 Kim was honored to receive the Salem State University “Friend of the Earth Award” and to give the keynote address for the University’s Earth Day Weeks events program.

• 2017 Kim was named an Essex National Heritage Trailblazer and became an Essex Heritage Commissioner in recognition of her work connecting people to place.

Sole proprietor Kim Smith Designs. 1985 to present. Current projects:

• Working in collaboration with Chris Muskopf of Cambridge Seven Associates, designed the City of Gloucester’s award winning HarborWalk Butterfly Gardens. Project initiated 2012.

•Design/build/maintain butterfly garden at Philips Andover Academy Children’s Campus  Andover, Massachusetts. Project initiated spring 2013 to present.

• Design/build butterfly and pollinator habitat garden at Pathways for Children, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Project initiated June 2014.

• Design/build/ pollinator gardens at Willowdale Estate, Bradley Palmer State Park, Topsfield, Massachusetts. Project initiated spring 2008.

• Design/build/maintain garden for the Mary Prentiss Inn, Cambridge. Project initiated fall 2012  to present.

• Design/maintain garden for the Kendall Hotel, Cambridge. Project initiated fall 2015 to present.

• Design/build habitat gardens for private clients New England region, 2009 to present.

• Design/build, with students and faculty, butterfly garden at Eastern Point Day School, Gloucester, MA. Spring, 2008.

Kim Smith Films:

• Beauty on the Wing ~ Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.
• Snowy Owl Film Project
• Flight of Monarchs – Short film created for the Berkshire Museum.
• Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly – Documentary
• Currently creating documentary films about Gloucester’s Feast of St. Joseph, Saint Peter’s Fiesta,  The Piping Plovers of Gloucester, and a children’s film,  The Lonely Swan. 
• Films and photographs for the “Butterflies” exhibit at the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Books, Lectures, and Exhibits:

•BBC and PBS interview: Autummwatch October 2018

• Salem State University “Friend of the Earth Award” and keynote speaker Earth Days 2018.

• Recognized as an Essex National Heritage Trailblazer 2017 for her work creating people to place.

• Essex National Heritage Commissioner 2017 – 2021.

• Author and Illustrator Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities ~ Notes from a Gloucester Garden,
David R. Godine, Publisher. February, 2009. Boston Globe Best of 2009.

• Author and Illustrator children’s book Beauty on the Wing ~ Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

• Journalist/photographer for national and regional periodicals. 2005 to present.

• Frequent lecturer and instructor on creating habitat gardens with native plants. Programs include: “Beauty on the Wing ~ Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly,” “The Pollinator Garden,” “Butterfly Gardening,” “The Fragrant Garden,” “Your Garden as Habitat,” and “Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities.”

• Guest Instructor and Lecturer at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Tower Hill Botanic Garden: “The Pollinator Garden,” “Butterflies of Summertime,” “On the Wing: Migratory Butterflies,” “Nature in Focus,” Close-up Photography Workshops. 2008 to present.

• Photo/journal exhibit Beauty on the Wing ~ Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly. In partnership with the Massachusetts and Gloucester Cultural Councils. Matz Gallery of the Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester, Massachusetts. September 1, 2009 – October 1, 2009.

• Bi-monthly garden design columnist, with a focus on planting native flora to attract native fauna, North Shore Planet newspaper. 2005 to 2010.

• Haiti Projects, Inc., clothing and textile designer. 2007 to 2010.

• Photo journal exhibit “The Journey of the Monarch Butterfly.” Presented at the Matz Gallery of the Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester, Massachusetts. September 1, 2007 – October 1, 2007.

• Volunteer for community theatre productions. Producer, costume designer, set designer, stage manager. Boston and Cape Ann. 1980 to 2005.

• Sole proprietor couture clothing design firm 1980 to 1985.

Education:

Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
The School of Fashion Design, Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts

For more information on Kim’s films and design projects follow her on Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, and Twitter, and visit her design and Monarch Butterfly film website. 

For information about lectures and workshops that Kim teaches and a schedule of upcoming events, visit the Programs and Events pages of her website, for information about current short  films visit the Short Films and Trailers page. For information about the Snowy Owl Film Project go here. For information about current public projects visit the Design Projects page.