There is a community of people in Brantford who belong to the world of creative art forms
The artistic community in Brantford is quite large, ranging from painters to graphic designers and photographers, from musicians to dancers. “… there’s no wrong art. There’s no bad art,” Paul Smith, artist. There are not many limits when it comes to the artistic stylings of the Brantford community. This includes Brantford’s very own Paul Smith.
Smith’s photography work can be seen all over the Brantford community, in the form of headshots and billboards. Locals who are familiar with Glenhyrst’s incubator program may also recognize Smith’s paintings as part of the gallery.
Paul Smith grew up in Brantford and lived in the city until he was 18 years old and went to college at Sheridan for photography. “I think formal education is really tricky.
Personally, because there are certainly skill sets that I learned in school that were invaluable to me in my creative career. But at the same time, there’s lots of things that just come from experience… the thing about any creative field in my mind is that there’s like two spheres. There’s like a technical sphere … you need to know all the technical components of a thing. And then there’s the creative output is like your vision and your influences and your aesthetics and all that stuff. If you have one within the other, it doesn’t work.”
From there, Smith lived in Toronto for several years while working as a photographer before moving back to Brantford with his husband, Steve Lacelle, and opened a photography studio called, Photohouse Studio. Smith photography skills include weddings, commercial and editorial work. Not only did Smith move back to his hometown; he is also actively involved in the community. Participating in fairs, non-profits and the chamber of commerce as well as giving back to the Glenhyrst community as a camp counsellor. “The Advocate, which was this little grassroots newspaper that had a whole bunch of local voices in it. I photographed for this paper for a couple years. And that really was like got me known as a photographer and got me ingratiated with a lot of other people and a lot of other organizations,” Smith said.
While Smith’s work as a painter didn’t begin until later. He participated in art camp as a child then took a break from the medium. Then returned to it with a new love and understanding of the artistic and creative output. “Mattew Ryan Smith,the curator at Glenhyrst. And he said, something really profound to me, ‘You have had 16 years of looking at light and colour and composition and value. And now you’re just translating that to another art form,’” Smith said. Paul Smith has since volunteered for the Taste of Glenhyrst and participated in the Grand River Art Festival where he was accepted into the Juried Exhibition and went on to win second place.
The biggest goal that Paul Smith has now is to get into a provincial or national gallery.
Leave a Reply