A dam S mith
Passion and Paint By Vicki Stavig
H
e’s young, he’s enthusiastic—and he’s talented. At just 29, Adam Smith is making quite a name for himself with his wildlife paintings, and he’s more than a little thrilled at having the opportunity to partake of everything involved in that process, from travel to research to the actual creation of his realistic renditions. Although he has had no formal training, Smith says he has benefited from the mentorship of one of the country’s foremost wildlife painters—his father. The young artist just happens to be the son of Daniel Smith. That mentorship, combined with the artistic genes he inherited from his father, are moving Smith along quickly, as he makes his mark in Western art. An indication of Smith’s remarkable talent came early on. In fact, in 2007, less than a year after he began to paint on a full-time basis, he sold
out at the Safari Club International Show. “I sold out in the first two hours of the first day of the show,” he says. “It wasn’t something I expected; it was pretty crazy. I think Dad was pretty shocked—and pretty proud.” Smith says he is passionate about painting, but that wasn’t always the case. Born in Minnesota, he moved with his family to Montana, when he was 9. His father had made a name for himself in the Federal Duck Stamp Competition but, as the print market began to dry up, he decided to move the family west and to create wildlife originals. It was a good move for the elder Smith, and a good move for the family. The younger Smith enjoyed exploring the outdoors and taking family trips, during which his father would do research for his paintings. Although he was drawing as a young boy, Smith was more interested in
ART of the WEST • September/October 2013
playing his guitar. “I started playing when I was 8; it was one of my passions,” he says. “I played with a lot of bands—blues and Southern rock.” Smith’s parents, he said, were encouraging and supportive of whatever interests he pursued, including music. While on a Caribbean cruise with the family, when he was in his early teens, he played for two nights with one of the onboard bands. He also played with bands at local bars in Bozeman, when he was so young that he had to have his parents accompany him to the venues. About that time, Smith became interested in cars and dreamed of a career in automotive design. “I spent Hitching a Ride, acrylic, 14˝ by 28˝ “Bison are one of my favorite subjects to research and photograph. The storm clouds rolling in provide a nice contrast against all the textures in the foreground.”
Hide and Seek, acrylic, 24˝ by 30˝ “Wolves are in their prime during the winter months. A little game of hide and seek will soon give chase.”
most of my senior year [in high school] doing car design sketches on my own, so art has always been in my life, from cars to wildlife,” he says. During his high school years, Smith worked at a local dealership, starting out by detailing cars and later organizing the car lot and performing miscellaneous tasks. His passion for cars later led Smith to enroll in a technical school in Wyoming and then to return to the dealership in Bozeman, where he worked as a technician for a year. Although he also was offered the opportunity to continue his training
with Audi and BMW, an opportunity that carries with it some prestige in the auto tech industry, he turned it down. Smith did so, because by then his interest in art had resurfaced and was so strong that he could not ignore it. “I had taken drawing and painting classes in high school and, at 16, I entered the junior duck stamp competition and discovered that I could paint,” he says. “I got first place in the state of Montana competition. Then I stopped and focused on cars.” While working as a technician,
September/October 2013• ART of the WEST