Mark Stephen Smith, Juror

Mark Stephen Smith, a well-established and innovative oil painter prominent on the Dallas art scene, served as the juror for the 1st 125-Mile Visual Arts Exhibition. Smith received his MFA at Queens Collefe of the City University of New York in 1975 after earning a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and a BA from Boston College.

He is currently a full professor at Austin College in Sherman, TX, where he has been a faculty member for 20 years. In addition to numerous solo exhibits in Dallas and other locations including the Still-Zinsel Contemporary Fine Art in New Orleans, Smith has also participated in a variety of cutting-edge group exhibitions. He is represented by Dallas' Craighead-Green Gallery, the site of his solo exhibit in September 2006. The recipient of various honors and grants, Smith has been the focus of newspaper and magazine articles as well as radio specials.

He comments in his his artist's statement: "Despite years of practice and experience, painting remains a kind of spontaneous combustion between mind, spirit and raw materials. What I really like about art is the adventure, mystery and sense of wonderment it can create."

Juror's Statement - Sweet spot

Somewhere between good taste and outright anarchy is an aesthetic sweet spot. This is a place created by the artist who negotiates a path between freedom of expression, experimentation, a love of materials, and mastery of craft.

The work in this show, to my eyes at least, seems a bit quirky and has a kind of soulfulness that stands apart from the pack. In looking at the many fine art works submitted for the exhibition, I was struck the determination of many of the artists to wrestle with ideas, images, and art making in a way that seems fearless. We live a culture that demands an absurd level of conformity, even aesthetic conformity, which threatens to undermine the deepest core values of creative risk-taking.

I salute every artist who entered the show. Thank you for your creative self-expression.

Mark Smith