Professor of Art Ed Smith’s work primarily focuses on the heroic and mythical aspects of humankind. For those lucky enough to know him at Marist, the man himself is something of a hero, too. In addition to teaching in the Art & Digital Media Department in the School of Communication and the Arts, Smith is also the Director of the Marist College Art Gallery and Marist Venice Biennale Program. He works very closely with students curating exhibitions and also put together shows and talks such as “Risk & Work” during the spring semester.

With such a full plate it’s amazing that Smith can still find the time to be a working artist. But he feels it’s crucial for students to see their teachers doing the work of making art. He credits Marist for fostering that. “One of the many wonderful things about being on the faculty at Marist is the support one gets from students, colleagues, and the administration. While Marist's first and highest concern is teaching, that support crosses into our specific areas of scholarship. We teach but also act as exemplars for those who work with us,” Smith explained. He quoted renowned author Edith Hamilton on the importance of students seeing such examples, “‘Men knew great deeds could be done, because they had seen great deeds done by men.’”

And Smith is certainly busy with plenty of “deeds”.  This summer his sculptures and drawings will be featured in galleries from Hudson, New York, to Rutland, Vermont, and Anne Arundel County, Maryland (full list below).  “I’m excited about these venues, not only are they important but many carry a historical significance like The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home and national historic site. The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center is another. Rutland and the quarries there supplied the stone to build the District of Columbia. Others carry a deep personal significance such as allowing me to exhibit with my mentors in New York and galleries that are located in areas that helped form my artistic concerns, Chautauqua and Anne Arundel County,” said Smith.

A member of the National Academy, a Guggenheim Fellow in Sculpture and Drawing and a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, Smith’s work is represented in public and private collections across the United States and abroad. His work has been written about and reviewed in the New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, The Baltimore Evening Sun, Art News, the Miami Herald, The Albany Times Union, Giornale Dell’Arte, San Francisco Examiner, Art New England and many others.

After a full summer of exhibitions, Smith has a number of upcoming exhibitions in the fall and spring throughout the States as well as abroad and the big project of helping move with his department into the renovated Steel Plant. The building will provide a new home for the Marist Art Gallery. “There are big plans for the new gallery,” said Smith. “I see this space as a real opportunity not only to connect the Marist community with contemporary and classical art, and to highlight Marist on the growing list of outstanding Hudson Valley art destinations.”

Ed Smith Exhibition Schedule

Hudson, New York

BCB Art, 116 Warren St. Hudson, through June 30
http://bcbart.com/

 

Chatuauqua, New York

Contemporary Art Gallery, June 24 – September 3

 

West Rutland, Vermont

The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center, “Ed Smith - Recent Work,” July 7 - August 5
https://carvingstudio.org

 

Lenox , Massachusetts

SculptureNow @ The Mount (Historic home of Edith Wharton), June 1 - October 31
https://www.edithwharton.org/

 

Montauk, New York

BCK Fine Arts Gallery, June - August
http://bckfineartsgallery.com/

 

Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Cade Gallery - Ed Smith Sculpture, August 16 - September 28
https://www.aacc.edu/campus-life/visit-an-art-show/cade-center-gallery/