Famous People who are Regular People

Many years ago I spent a weekend in Carmel and visited the many art galleries near the beach.  In a little garden on one of the street corner blocks were some intriguing life size statues of children playing a baseball game.  I was drawn to them and their childlike playfulness.  One of the galleries displayed more work of Dennis Smith, the artist.  Too expensive for my pocketbook, I admired them as a spectator.  

Speed the clock up several years to my first church meeting in my new ward in Highland, UT.  I still remember sitting in gospel doctrine class where the teacher called on a man named Dennis Smith, who drew a parallel to the topic and his artwork.  I asked the person next to me if he was a painter and the reply was, "Yes, but he is famous for his statues"  I couldn't believe it!  THE Dennis Smith was in my ward!  Several months later I arranged to bring dessert to Dennis and Veloy for FHE while he let my children and I tour his art studio.  I was so excited to see the original wax models of some of the statues I had admired for many years.  Later, when I had married Dave,  I came to find out that Dennis had studied in Spain when Dave's dad, Ray, was the mission president there.  Ray bought one of Dennis' small statues to help fund the young and starving artist.  

Below is a statue a few blocks from here in the Highland City Cemetery

 Included in our ward boundaries is a development of about 80 homes built in a treed gully where Bull River (creek) runs.  It was started years ago by several young up and coming artists who raised their families in an ideal setting.  Over the years, artistic people have been drawn to this neighborhood and we have several talented people who continue to move in not knowing that their neighbors are also artists.    

Here are some of the varied styles of my dear friends:

Sally Poet is one of the best gospel doctrine teachers I have ever had.  She heads up a ladies study group that meets at my house on Thurs. mornings, but her real talent is as a painter.  She paints religious art in a modern way.  Some of her paintings have been displayed in the Church Museum in SLC.  Check out Sally's Art on her blog

   Gary Smith has painted several murals in our temples, including Nauvoo and Samoa, and he is finishing the new Brigham City temple (which he will let us take a sneak peak at in February).  When  Dave had back surgery last year we spent a week in AZ and visited galleries in Scottsdale.  I didn't know he was a featured artist there, and man was I blown away by the price tag on his paintings.  Check out  Gary's Art.  Last Christmas when I was the activities chairman in the ward, I gathered all the religious paintings from our famous artists, with Gary's art most prolific.  He got his friend, James C. Christensen to loan us some originals as well.  David built a lighting system to show off the art.  We dimmed the cultural hall, set up formal dining tables, invited the chamber choir from Lone Peak High School to sing, and served a nice dinner in our art museum.  After setting up all day, Dave and I ran home to dress in our fancy duds when he remembered that we had left the building unlocked with a million dollars of art on the walls.  We hurried back.  

Judy and Gary Smith stand by one of my favorite paintings of Christ.  He painted this with a knife, applying dabs of color in the impressionists style. Gary Smith and Dennis Smith were next door neighbors for years, and Judy was the model for Dennis' Monument to Women statues in Nauvoo of the mother dancing in a circle with her children.

This is a picture of a photograph of Joseph Smith (the only photo to exist of him) which was recently discovered in the archives of the RLDS (Community of Christ) church.  The FBI did an analysis and determined it was the prophet by a 98% accuracy. It is believed to have been taken shortly after he escaped from Liberty Jail.  Gary was commissioned by the church to paint from this photo, and here are his 2 paintings:

Onion Fields near Sacramento

Below:  Country themes popular in Scottsale

Chelsea James is my visiting teaching partner.  She is an identical twin and an avid mountain biker.  A few months ago she took Connor and Gabe into the back country to investigate some great trails. She said they were really good and she actually had a hard time keeping up - come to find out she was pregnant... with twins.  Here she is in her home displaying some of her artwork that is featured in an artshow at a museum in Los Angeles Chelsea's Art.  She paints landscapes for prestigious Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco, but Gary says he loves her sinks.