Ted Smith (Canadian painter)

Ted Smith, an elderly white man in glasses, sits on an office chair in front of an easel with a landscape of rocks and trees on it. He is surrounded by paint brushes.
Ted Smith with a painting in progress, 2012.

James Edward "Ted" Smith (1933-2016) was a painter from Kamloops, B.C., Canada. He was known for his abstract landscape paintings of the region.[1]

Early life and education

Smith was born in Vernon, B.C. to Alma Louisa Smith (née Johnson) and James Alexander Smith.[2][3] He grew up in Lumby, Barriere, and then Kamloops, B.C.[2][3] After graduating high school, Smith worked for several years for Canadian National Railway.[1] He also attended Victoria College from 1952-53 and the University of British Columbia from 1954-55.[1]

In 1960, Smith enrolled at the Vancouver School of Art.[4] He decided to begin art school on the advice of William Geddes, an industrial psychologist at Victoria College.[1][5] During his time at VSA, he studied sculpture, design, drawing, and painting with teachers including Orville Fischer, Jack Shadbolt, Donald Jarvis, Roy Kiyooka, Peter Aspell, Fred Amess, and Reg Holmes.[1] He graduated with a diploma in painting in 1964.[1][4]

Career

After art school, Smith moved back to Kamloops, where he lived and painted from his mobile home until his death in 2016.[2] He was represented by the Oasis Gallery in Kamloops,[3] the Bridge Street Gallery in Vancouver,[6] and the Art Ark gallery in Kelowna.[3][7] After the Art Ark closed, Ted’s work was promoted locally by the Kamloops community.[2]

His work was featured many times at the Kamloops Art Gallery in both solo and group exhibits.[8][4][6][1] His works have been exhibited alongside those of A.Y. Jackson,[9] Ann Kipling, Toni Onley, and Jack Shadbolt, among others.[10] His paintings were known for the use of colours and shapes,[1][3][11] and for their association with lyrical abstraction[12] and modernism.[1] He cites Shadbolt, Jarvis, and Nicolas de Staël as influences on his style.[1][3] As a regular fishing companion of Kamloops fly fisherman Jack Shaw, Smith spent much time on the lakes around Kamloops.[13] He painted from both field sketches and photographs, and described his process as “trying to capture what [he] saw.”[14]

Exhibitions

  • 1980 – Ted Smith and Rhona Armes, Kamloops Art Gallery[4]
  • 1982 – Images of a Regional Landscape, Kamloops Art Gallery[4]
  • 1983 – University College of the Cariboo (Kamloops, B.C.)[4]
  • 1988 – In Celebration, Kamloops Art Gallery[4]
  • 1988 and 1994- Oasis Gallery (Kamloops, B.C.)[4]
  • 1989 and 1991 – The Little Picture Show, Oasis Gallery (Kamloops, B.C.)[4]
  • 1992 – Ted Smith: Three Decades of Colour, Kamloops Art Gallery[6]
  • 1995 – Juried Exhibition, Kamloops Art Gallery[4]
  • 2000-2001 – Home Grown: Five from the Region, Kamloops Art Gallery[15]
  • 2011 – Familiar Territory, Kamloops Art Gallery[9]
  • 2014 – Ted Smith: A Retrospective, Kamloops Art Gallery[16][1]
  • 2019 – Ted Smith: Ideal Forms, Kamloops Museum and Archives (posthumous)[17]
  • 2022 – Reading the Land: Ten Years of Collecting, Kamloops Art Gallery (posthumous)[10]

Kamloops Art Gallery collection

Jack Shaw (fly fisherman)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Smith, Ted; Smith, Ted; Neville, Charo; Boulet, Roger (2014). Ted Smith. Kamloops Art Gallery. Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada: Kamloops Art Gallery. ISBN 978-1-895497-82-3 OCLC 875027195
  2. ^ a b c d "James Smith Obituary (2016) - Kamloops This Week". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Millar, Lissa (2008). "A Life in Colour". Currents. pp. 12–14.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j A catalogue of the exhibition Juried Exhibition. Kamloops Art Gallery. 1995. ISBN 1-895497-18-3
  5. ^ Chrumka, Jennifer (2 July 2014). "An interview with landscape artist Ted Smith". CBC. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Ted Smith: Three Decades of Colour. Kamloops Art Gallery. 1992. ISBN 1-895497-06-X
  7. ^ "Ted Smith, Kelowna BC". www.gobc.ca. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  8. ^ Keegan, Trish, ed. (1998). Changing Spirits: Canadian Art of the 1960s and 70s. Kamloops Art Gallery. p. 26. ISBN 1-895497-30-2
  9. ^ a b "FAMILIAR TERRITORY". Kamloops Art Gallery. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  10. ^ a b "READING THE LAND: TEN YEARS OF COLLECTING". Kamloops Art Gallery. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  11. ^ "Kamloops painter's career covered at KAG". ArmchairMayor.ca. 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2025-04-19
  12. ^ Klassen, Andrea (3 July 2014). "Art history from city walls". Kamloops This Week. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  13. ^ Shaw, Ralph (2008). The Pleasure of His Company: the fishing diaries of Jack Shaw. Courtney, Canada: Friesens. pp. 16–27. ISBN 978-0-9811148-0-4
  14. ^ Millar, Lissa (2008). "A Life in Colour". Currents. p. 14.
  15. ^ A catalogue of the exhibition Home Grown: Five from the Region. Kamloops Art Gallery. 2001. ISBN 1-895497-45-0
  16. ^ "A RETROSPECTIVE". Kamloops Art Gallery. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  17. ^ "Ted Smith: Ideal Forms". Kamloops Art Gallery. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
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