A RETROSPECTIVE
Ted Smith
Central Gallery
October 18 to December 31, 2014
Curated by Charo Neville, Kamloops Art Gallery
The summer exhibitions feature a retrospective of work by Kamloops-based painter Ted Smith. Ted Smith: A Retrospective encompasses the first major selection of Smith’s work since his 1992 exhibition at the original Kamloops Art Gallery space. Work starting in the 1960s and spanning five decades has been borrowed from the artist’s studio, the KAG’s permanent collection and most substantially from local private collections.
Ted Smith was born in Vernon, BC, and grew up in Kamloops. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art in the early 1960s when the principal instructors were notable artists Orville Fischer, Fred Amess, Peter Aspell, Donald Jarvis, Roy Kiyooka, Reg Holmes and Jack Shadbolt. Jarvis and Shadbolt, as well as other artists Smith would later study in books, such as the (Russian-born) French painter Nicolas de Staël, have had an enduring impact on Smith’s practice and his interest in abstraction.
Smith has always felt comfortable moving between the representational and the abstract and his work is informed by the surrounding landscape and driven by a strong commitment to the possibilities of paint. It is Smith’s bold approach to landscape, or more accurately, his interest in the act of painting, that defines his artistic practice. Smith has remained a prolific painter for the past many decades and continues to paint into his eighties.
Generously sponsored by Watson Engineering Ltd., MCM Real Estate Ltd., Mona M. Murrary, RBC Dominion Securities Inc, Tony Erlank, Thompson Rivers University, Office of the President
Ted Smith was a Kamloops-based artist whose painting moved between abstraction and representation. Influenced by his time at the Vancouver School of Art studying with well known artists including Jack Shadbolt and Donald Jarvis, Smith’s work was grounded in Modernism. He is best known as a landscape painter and recognized for capturing the essence of the Kamloops region. Smith’s work is distinguished by a vivid and innovative use of colour and exploration of the possibilities of paint.
A coinciding publication is available in the Gallery Store.
Ted Smith
Blue Abstract (De Staël), 1970
oil on canvas board
Private Collection
Photo: Kamloops Art Gallery
