Married artists AJ and Marjorie Smith’s exhibit, entitled “Places, Spaces, and Faces: Our Journey,” will be stationed at the South Arkansas Arts Center starting today, June 2.
Although the pair’s art hangs side by side in the exhibit, their artistic visions are, at least on the surface, somewhat divergent.
AJ Smith’s works in the exhibit are made up of drawings and prints, mostly detailed sketches of the faces of people he encountered and came to know while traveling in the Arkansas Delta.
“I traveled, met people and talked with them. It’s about celebrating the ordinary and ordinary people. When you listen to ordinary people talk, you learn they’ve done extraordinary things,” he said.
In one example, Smith learned that one of his subjects in Strong was a World War II veteran who managed to join the Army at a young age by fudging the numbers a bit.
“I was visiting with him and he showed me photos of himself at 16 in an Army uniform. His grandson was there with us and looked like a clone of [his grandfather],” AJ Smith said.
AJ Smith said he tries to get to know each artistic subject in order to best represent their personality in his art.
He has documented not just the people, but the shifting and vanishing landscapes and locales of the region in his work.
“I’ve documented these places in the Arkansas Delta, churches and houses, some dating back years and many of which no longer exist,” Smith said.
Marjorie Smith’s work is, in contrast, more inward-looking and focused on nature and the spirit.
She seeks to “connect with the energy of nature” through her art to “create a sense of calm and reflection,” she said.
Many of her images are sketched from flowers given to her by friends or family members, adding to the very personal and reflective quality of the work.
Marjorie Smith said that she and her husband were previously professors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock but are now retired and focusing on their artistic endeavors.
Marjorie Smith said that although she and her husband will often come to each other for bits of inspiration or technical advice, they are overall on “different paths” artistically, a statement reflected clearly in their art.
The exhibit opens today and a reception will be held on Saturday, June 5 at 6 p.m.