Thanks to Joe Smith for taking the time to do studio visits with MCAD’s graduate students.
Joe Smith’s abstractions and still-lifes explore the impact of weight and gesture as a means to open up psychological spaces. Each element in his work is charged with restraining and driving forces that reveal the gaps between the physical, mental, and the metaphysical. A graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Smith has received several grants and fellowships, including a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Visual Artists, a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant, and a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant. He has exhibited in numerous venues, including Midway Contemporary Art, Occasional Art, and David Petersen Gallery in the Twin Cities, and The Suburban in Chicago. He is currently a professor of art at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul.
