Alchemy of art: Artists' collaboration brings creativity to walls in unique ways

True collaboration is an art form in itself. When two skilled artists come together, working side by side to create something bigger than the sum of their individual contributions, it is magic.  

That’s true for the Alchemy Wallpaper Collection, a melding of the minds and vision and talents of Upstate artists Teresa Roche and Liz Rundorff Smith. 

“Teresa Roche Textiles has been making wallpapers for five years now,” Smith says. “In addition to owning Art & Light Gallery and having a studio as an artist, she also has the textile business. I've been represented by Art & Light Gallery as an artist for going on three years, and I started working with the gallery in July of 2023.” 

Smith is the gallery’s assistant director. It’s through that role that she attended High Point Market and the seed of an idea was planted. Smith saw wallpapers that bridged her body of work with Roche’s.  

“That started the project of experimenting with bringing our way of working together to create a line of wallpapers,” she says.  

Roche says the wallcoverings, which were to go on sale April 1, are printed in Fort Mill,, and are the result of a long and eventful creative process. 

Smith and Roche created eight paintings, which were photographed. Design software, turned a single image into a pattern repeat. Then came the steps of approving paper, scale, coloring, substrates and samples.  

All About Art:Greenville Center for Creative Arts' Liz Rundorf Smith

“There's a lot of emotion, that's for sure,” Roche says. “I have been doing this for five years – I've had it on my brain to do it for about 30 years, collecting little bits of fabric and wallpaper. And within my art practice over the last 20 years, I've envisioned my art becoming a wallpaper just sort of internally, and it's just been something that I've been working toward.” 

She says that what she didn't understand was the cost and time involved in making that happen.  

“It's much more difficult than I ever believed it would be, and there's a lot of competition now, especially since wallpaper is back in vogue.” 

Roche says she and Smith are combining their distinct creative processes for this latest collection. 

“We wanted something that looks truly original and not like it's been illustrated in a computer program,” Roche says. “I want to express our artistry, by seeing the brushstrokes and seeing the indentations and the curl of the paper and all of those things we want to embrace. We’re enhancing that so when it goes to the wall, it actually looks like it was a hand painted wall.” 

Surprise elements are a part of both the artistic process and what customers will ultimately see in their homes. The collaborations include wax, powdered pigment, heat, paint – all coming together in what Roche describes as a “collision.” 

More:Teresa Roche combines love of fine art and design in collection of artisanal fabrics

Creating wallpaper from the result sense for both artists.  

“We both like the idea of the nostalgia that's connected to wallpaper for different reasons,” Smith says. “Teresa is an artist who often works in collage, so those elements and the way that the paper curls and the way that the texture of the paint lies on one paper versus another, those are sort of built into her work.” 

 Smith says her painting process is a little different, but complementary.  

“I'm often referencing patterns, colors, interiors and shapes that for me are pulled from a memory of a certain time or a place. I'm often thinking about the colors and the wallpapers that I watched my mom put up and then take down in the ‘90s, when she decided she was going to paint all of the rooms.” 

 For Smith and Roche, the connections to wallpaper became part of their work for different reasons, Smith says. 

“But there's is a tie that kind of makes sense in the grander scheme of the body of our work as artists.” 

Teresa Roche Textiles recently moved to 1172 Pendleton St., Greenville. The Alchemy Wallpaper Collection is available at teresarocheart.com. Visits to the studio are by appointment by emailing orders@TeresaRocheArt.com or calling 864-373-5065. 

 As part of this collaboration, a series of five large scale encaustic and mixed media paintings will be exhibited at The Anchorage Restaurant April 9 – July 13, with an art talk at 5 p.m. May 23. The artwork will be available through Art and Light Gallery at  artandlightgallery.com.