The Artist - Dennis Von Smith
Dennis Smith was born in 1942 in Alpine, Utah, where he lived until 1961, when he traveled to Denmark to live for two and one-half years. While there, he was attracted to the expressionism and humanistic themes of Scandinavian art. Upon returning from Denmark, he graduated from Brigham Young University and continued his graduate studies there until being accepted to the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Denmark.
By 1968, after returning to Utah, Smith had set up his first studio in his father's old chicken coop and had begun to exhibit his work. Originally, he was best known for his sculptures of children, which exhibit his ability to capture moments of play, reflection, and intimacy. Other early works such as his flying machines, like Aeroplane Contraption (1975), depict the fanciful imaginings of children. His sculptural pieces range from life-size garden sculptures to small, figurative bronzes.
In the late 1980s, Smith turned to oil painting for an "inner exploration, a creative exercise where I don't have to prove anything." While Smith may not have felt the need to prove himself with his paintings, the paintings are proving that as an artist, he is not restricted to three-dimensional art forms. His painting style leans towards Figural Abstraction, and his paintings, though often intensely personal, are built on metaphors universal enough to invite others in, to share their memories and symbols too. Some of his paintings, like Keeper of the Gate (1989), and many of his sculptures, are celebrations and explorations of the freedoms and restraints of childhood.
This exploration of childhood and family has inspired artwork that is exhibited through galleries in the United States and is permanently installed in public plazas, airports and buildings. Smith has received commissions from public and private institutions, and his art is located in many locations across the United States as well as in Russia and England.
The Art
DENNIS VON SMITH (1942- ) Highland, Utah
Keeper of the Gate, 1989
oil on canvas, 60" x 60" (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
Gift from David and Ingrid Nemelka, Mapleton, 1989.082
The painting represents the artist's childhood memories of Alpine, Utah, vividly recollected in paint. As a memory, it is slightly jumbled in terms of perspective, color, juxtaposition, and size, just like a dream. The painting is based on a time when the artist had just turned eight years old and received a birthday gift of an American Flyer bicycle. His parents told him not to ride farther than the gas station at Four-Corners. The gas station was the edge of his world, it was the "Keeper of the Gate" to the outside world for the curious and adventurous boy.
Like much of Smith's work, Keeper of the Gate deals with balance. In this particular piece, the balance is between safety and freedom. The painting shows the area he was allowed to roam as a child. Within it, the gate represents the boundary where his freedom both began and ended. Smith is exploring both the nature of freedom and of limits, which themselves often simultaneously give and restrict. Furthermore, the painting comments on the setting of arbitrary limits and on strictures on freedom and free agency, which are set by others.
Concepts
Visual Art Core Curriculum - Utah State Office of Education
Under the Standard of Making, this print can help the student:
- color and draw pictures with the sky band extending down from the top of the page to the tops of the mountains, buildings, or horizon.
- portray people and objects in a natural size relationship.
- draw vertical objects, such as telephone poles, chimneys, or trees perpendicular to the horizon rather than the diagonal lines upon which they may rest.
- use the medium of oil pastels (or regular pastels) to change the intensity or brightness of a color (for example, to lower the intensity of red mix a little of its complement green).
- explore the process of painting by having the students use oil pastels to place several colors right next to each other and then mix them slightly with a brush dipped in an odorless solvent.
Under the Standard of Perceiving, this print can help the student:
- identify the appearance of space.
- create a sense of space in a work of art by using one of the following methods:
| Overlapping |
Smaller size further away |
| Less detail further away |
Less intense color further away |
Lighter in value further away
Slightly bluer further away |
Objects placed higher in the
format appear further away |
Under the Standard of Expressing, this print can help the student:
- suggest and investigate possible meanings, ideas, symbols, or interpretations of an artwork.
- speculate whether buildings have meanings or portray ideas.
- create a work of art by developing a theme such as childhood memories.
- describe how elements of art such as line, shape, color, and texture are used to express ideas and convey meanings.
Under the Standard of Contextualizing, this print can help the student:
- see how to create a work of art that reflects part of family history/traditions or neighborhood history/culture.
- identify the meaning (intent of the artist) communicated in an artwork.
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