Nan Smith is the 2000 University of Florida Research Foundation Professor from the College of Fine Arts. A professor of ceramics in the School of Art and Art History, Smith’s installation-oriented figurative sculptures reflect a perspective on the relativity and unity within existence. Focused on life as a transformative journey and human consciousness as evolutionary, the installations incorporate life-sized, hyper-real ceramic figures set within tableaux formed by beautifully crafted metal and wooden constructions. Smith’s heroic sculptures embrace the "essence of beauty" on-going within the craft tradition and the installation format of contemporary sculpture.

Smith possesses expertise in various studio processes, including the use of traditional and progressive casting and mold-making techniques for ceramics, life modeling, working with the ceramic medium at large scale and painting on sculpture using ceramic materials with an airbrush.

Smith’s sculpture has appeared in close to 100 exhibitions throughout the United States and has been featured in more than 30 national and international art publications. She has received numerous awards, including three Florida Individual Artist’s Fellowships and the National Endowment for the Arts regional award for sculpture sponsored by the Southern Arts Federation. Her work is included in the collections of the American Express Corporation and the Lamar Dodd Art Center at LaGrange College in Georgia.