W
hen Clifford Smith, ’73, paints a nature scene, the image on the canvas appears to be moving. A leaf is blowing, a cloud is rolling by, and ocean waves
are always traveling somewhere. “It’s not a still life. Nature’s breathing. Nature’s moving,” says Smith, a successful artist who exhibits nationally. His work can be found in many public collections, including the American Stock Exchange, Yale University, and numerous corporations and universities.
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Outstanding Alumnus
School of artS and ScienceS
Smith taught art for 11 years at the high school and col-
Clifford G. smith, ’73 His father, now 91, worked as a commercial artist
lege levels. He notes, in turn, that talented teachers had a
before settling into an unrelated field. Smith was 16, and it
tremendous impact on his development as an artist, including
was the summer before junior year when he realized his rela-
Mitchell Roe Skop, his advanced drawing teacher at SCSU.
tionship with nature. “I felt a oneness,” he says.
“We celebrated the individual,” says Smith, recalling
The allure remains strong. Smith takes the ferry to
classes devoted to figure drawing with live models. “It wasn’t
places like Martha’s Vineyard and Orient Point and takes pic-
anyone. It was someone.”
tures — constantly studying the water.
His praise of Skop continues: “Because he was a sculp-
“I think about the energy, the smell, the action, “ he
tor, he also taught us to see three dimensionally. . . . That goes
says. “The waves come from the horizon and are going else-
beyond just drawing. That works an argument.”
where. . . . I understand the relationship of all that.”
In support of Southern students, Smith went on to establish the Clifford G. Smith Annual Art Scholarship Fund at
There are other inspirations as well. Smith, who gets up 5:30 a.m. and paints every day, is
the university. Hailing from New Jersey, he came to Southern
working on a piece based on a picture he took of a man eating
on a football scholarship and later ran track as well. He was, as
a sandwich in front of the outlets in Freeport, Maine. The back-
he recalls, virtually the only “jock” in the arts program. He
drop caught his eye.
went on to earn a master of fine arts degree from Pratt Institute in New York. Today, Smith lives in New Hampshire and has two grown daughters. 18 | Southern ALUMNI MAGAZINE
He’s also working on a piece he calls, “Cool Ride,” of a man and woman on a motorcycle, the wind in their hair. “I look for beauty or even something interesting,” he says.