Art educator Richard Smith is a popular portrait artist and more

The passes in art in the annual Caribbean Examinations Council examinations when they are just published are not results that are the subjects of conversations, debates, analyses, et cetera,. It is all about English language, mathematics and the sciences. And this year’s performances in English and mathematics have seen an improvement over last year’s making some stakeholders very happy.

However, artist/art educator Richard Smith has been very happy with his students’ Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate art examinations results for the past five years, sometimes receiving a 100-per-cent pass rate. And, for, the man who practises what he teaches at St Jago High School, and more, art is his life, and his bread and butter.

He was born in St Catherine a few decades ago, attended Belmont Park Primary School, Naggo Head Primary School and St Jago High School. He, who aspired to be a pilot was not trained in the art of flying aircraft, but studied art at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts and by Mortimer McPherson of Studio Mortimer Ltd.

It was in fifth form that it dawned on him that he was going to be a professional artist. “That year I founded and staged my first art exposition at St Jago High School. That year I copped gold and silver medals in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s visual arts competition. This further spiked my interest in art and the rest is history,” he said.

Part of that history is that he has acquired six gold medals so far and his ability to do live portraits. He is a regular participant at festivals, trade shows, national events, and other settings, creating portraits that have a striking resemblance to his subjects.

He, himself, is always under the spotlight as people watch him do what he does best. And, do not let his petite size fool you as he is big on being as accurate as accurate gets. He works under no pressure, so what is the key to successfully execute a live portrait drawing? “Discipline, consistency, curiosity,” he said off the bat.

Yet, he has had dissatisfied subjects, people who did not believe they were accurately portrayed. “Yes, I deal with the issue professionally by correcting the issue, even though sometimes it’s not an issue,” the multifaceted artist explained.

Multifaceted he really is, and when he was asked about the extent of the art that he could do, his short response was, “An artist is one who can master three or more disciplines. There is no limit.” The always smiling Smith truly has no limit. But, many other artists do have limits, some shying away from the art of doing live portraiture. But why?

“Many persons shy away from drawing because it is not easy. To draw well, one has to be willing to go through the struggle to learn how to draw before taking on something that’s complexed as portrait drawing. Persons are not willing to be patient and go through this process,” Smith explained.

He does not have a specific number of people who posed for him over the years, but he has been quite busy. And the person he loves to draw more than any other is ‘Mama’, his grandmother, because “she is a wonderful person, a mentor and a best friend”. “She taught me resilience and how to overcome adversity,” Smith told The Gleaner.