SMITH, Keir

1950 - 2007

Keir Owen Walter Smith was born in Gravesend, Kent on 1 February 1950, son of Walter Henry W Smith (1 September 1924-2001) and his wife Joan Irene née Mitten, who married at Chatham, Kent in 1949. Keir was educated at Collier Road secondary school, and at Northfleet and Gravesend grammar school. He studied fine art at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne 1969–1973, where his mentor was the painter Ian Stephenson (1934-2000), whom Keir followed to Chelsea College of Art 1973–1975 and where he moved from painting to working in three dimensions. His first solo shows after leaving university were at the Air Gallery, Dover Street, London in 1977 and at the Acme Gallery in 1980. In 1979 he was resident sculptor at Grizedale Forest, Cumbria and has completed numerous outdoor pieces, most notably 'The Iron Road', for the Forest of Dean sculpture project, 1986-1987. He taught at Birmingham Polytechnic until 1990 when he took up an appointment as head of sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art. A sculptor at Butley Mills Studios, Woodbridge, Suffolk, his bronzes were first modelled, then cast, either at Wimbledon College of Art, where he taught from 1991 until his death, or at his studio in Butley Mills Studios which were both small-scale foundries, but Keir made his pieces in sections, which were then bolted or welded together to gain a larger presence. His drawings, often in pencil and watercolour, or made in acrylic over lengthy periods of activity and he was never without a sketchbook and was the author of 'Keir Smith the Enclosed Garden' and other works. He married at Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1997 Clare Rowe. Keir Owen Walter Smith died on 7 March 2007.

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Works by This Artist