Maitland Art Center Gallery

The main exhibition space, now known as Gallery 2, was anything but conventional. Smith designed a long, narrow room lined on one side with recessed square compartments, each meant to house a single artwork. Seating was installed on the opposite wall, allowing viewers to sit and focus on one piece at a time without visual interference from others. In an article for the Winter Park Topics, Smith compared this layout to the most popular and enduring exhibition formats in the world: zoos and aquariums, where exhibits are presented in isolation to encourage concentrated viewing and appreciation.

Originally, the gallery was not open to the public. Access was limited to invited guests and the resident artists, who used the space to showcase their works-in-progress and engage in critique. But by 1940, Smith added an entrance off Packwood Avenue, shifting the gallery’s purpose toward public engagement. Attendance increased, and with it seemed to come a gradual change in community attitudes toward modern art. What had once seemed radical or obscure began to resonate with broader audiences.