Lawrence Smith

About the Artist

Lawrence B. Smith was born in Jesup, Ga. and grew up in Macon. He received his BS in Education from Georgia Southern University in 1971, and in 1975 he added a Masters Degree.   He was named Supervising Teacher of the Year by GSU in 1988.   He was also honored as the Screven County Middle School Teacher of the Year in 1993. He served as a Demonstration Teacher and Clinical Associate for Georgia Southern for many years, and has guided 63 Georgia Southern student teachers through various teaching experiences.  In 2004 he retired from teaching with 31 years teaching experience, twenty nine at Screven County Middle School.

Lawrence’s current themes are Landscapes, Water, Mountains, Vanishing South, the Civil War Era, and Trains using pen and ink, watercolor, colored pencils, and acrylics. From 2005 through 2018 he has exhibited at the Averitt Art Center in Statesboro; The Screven County Public Library in Sylvania; the Kalmanson Gallery in Swainsboro; and the Georgia National Fair in Perry, Ga.

Currently Lawrence teaches art lessons at the Averitt Center for the Arts in Statesboro. He served four years on the Visual Arts Committee at the Averitt center and continues there as a docent.

Artist Statement

I have always been in awe of the landscape, from daily sunrises and sunsets to the way light filters through treetops. Every season has its special moments; you just need to stop and look! In college I discovered that artists can recreate these moments and enhance them until the work seems to reach your soul. I discovered artists like Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church, and Charles Sheeler, who communicated their world through their work. I began a lifelong quest, and it has taken me years to build the skills and confidence needed to begin to capture these moments successfully. I hope you will allow my landscapes to capture you.

Currently I am working on several themes. I work primarily in pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, ink, and acrylic. My first theme is Vanishing Southern Scenes; showing old rural stores, gas stations, and other man-made abandoned things used by the average person in daily life in the landscape. Some of these are done on site; others are from a collection of photos I have been taking since 1975. Some images are just as they were; to others I have added items appropriate to the era to make them come alive. Most of these images are in the Southeastern area near my home area of Bulloch County, Georgia. More than a third of these places no longer exist due to neglect or modern progress.  My second theme is Railroads, mostly during the steam era and in precision detail. My third and fourth themes are Water; featuring falling or moving water, and Mountains, featuring vast vistas to intimate scenes. These paintings are of places that my wife and I have discovered that are still pristine. For us they are places where one rejuvenates. Often we take picnics, hike or kayak to a place, and spend hours there lost in our own thoughts, looking and listening to nature. These scenes are recreated with an abundance of detail. The more you look, the more you will discover. Most of these scenes are done from a collection of photos blended into compositions about light and shadow. My drawings and watercolors take five to sixty-five hours to complete. The acrylic landscapes take from two to ten months to complete. My newest theme is American West; a series of acrylic paintings based on recent photos from our visits to western states.

My art can be viewed on the web at www.lbsmithart.com.

Contact Information
9801 Akins Pond Road
Statesboro, GA 30461

Phone: (912) 865-5360
Website: lbsmithart.com

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