An artist? Well, perhaps. But actually I consider myself a painter first—one who is trying to use the rules unique to painting—ones we’ve had for the past three hundred years or so. These rules produce the form and so far have not been superseded. And it’s here—with the prevalent notion that the basis has changed—that we can so easily allow delusion to slip in. The struggle with this specific delusion is the discipline of painting.
Don Smith
Born in Dexter, Missouri, Don Smith attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, where he received two degrees in painting. In 1956 he was awarded a Delta Phi Delta National Honorary Art Award, and in 1957 a University Fellowship. Smith was a visiting Independent Artist at Santa Reparata Stamperia per Grafica in Florence, Italy in 1973. He has also been a Visiting Artist and Lecturer at Harvard University, Yale University Summer School for Music and Visual Art, Brown University, Artist Union, Brooklyn College, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wheelock College, among others.
Since 1960, Smith’s paintings have been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the Unites States, including the St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri, Providence Art Club, Rhode Island, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Newport Art Museum, Wheeler and Iselin Galleries, Rhode Island, and Bingham Gallery, University of Missouri, among others. The artist’s work is represented in over fifty public and private collections, including the Rhode Island School of Design; Rhode Island College, the Newport Art Museum, American Broadcasting Company, New York and the Spiva Art Center, Michigan.
