DavidOSmithArtist.com
David Orrin Smith (1986 - ) has been drawing and painting his entire life. His development was encouraged by mentorship under artists Gary Faigin and Tony Ryder. In 1999, at age 13, David was admitted to adult life drawing sessions at the Seattle Academy of Fine Art (now Gage) under Gary, a formative experience and establishing figure work as a fixture in his creative production. From 2004-2008 he continued his art study at Dartmouth College as well as pursuing his own professional art practice beyond the classroom. From 2008-2011, while getting his Master’s at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, he kept up a rigorous practice of art making, specifically explorations in figure, landscape, combining these interests in an optional Masters’ Thesis project on landscape design for the somatic (embodied) senses. From 2011 to 2024, he has been working in portraiture, figure, and landscape, including living in Philadelphia from 2012-2014, Charlottesville VA in 2015, Boston in 2015, the UK in 2018, back to Seattle in 2019. In 2021 he spent six months painting oil portraits and still life in Santa Fe, returning to Seattle in fall of 2021 to his home city, focusing on plein air watercolor landscapes, graphite portraiture, and a variety of other media, subject and scale. His work has won numerous awards and recognitions and can be found in museums, galleries, commercial and private collections.