Photo by: Herb Ascherman
aschermanphoto.net
I love the act of creation, of manipulating media and constructing images from the initial gesture to the final mark. In 2016, I began exploring children’s dresses as a subject because they were there – remnants of my wife’s childhood hanging in my studio’s closet, along with a trove of her dolls’ dresses. The shapes, structures, and textures posed interesting challenges for drawing and painting. The dresses, forgotten and outgrown long ago, capture a moment in time that shaped the lives of their owners.
My work explores issues of memory, loss, and identity. Current events impose additional layers of meaning and greater urgency to the visual representation of an empty dress. Too many children are killed by gun violence, forced into exile with, and too often, separated from their immigrant families, ostracized for their sexual and gender identities, and subjected to religious tribalism.
Jerry Smith (born 1956) is a re-emerging artist who received his BFA in 1979 from Miami University with a concentration in painting and printmaking, and his MFA in 1981 from the University of Colorado focusing on painting and drawing. In addition to traditional mediums, Jerry’s early work consisted of life-sized three-dimensional abstract figures made from torn and woven tar paper, paint, and roofing compounds on carved wood armatures. After a 40-year career in nonprofit arts administration and fundraising, Jerry returned to working full-time as a visual artist in 2021 with a focus on figurative drawing and painting. More recently he has re-engaged with his early interest in printmaking. Jerry draws on his lived experience with diverse performing and visual arts organizations and educational institutions to inform and heighten his creative work.
University of Akron
Akron, Ohio
Master of Arts, Arts Administration
Thesis: Multiculturalism in the Arts:
Changes in Funding and Public Policy
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Master of Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, Drawing and Printmaking
Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
2026 | Mansfield Art Center
81st Annual May Show
Mansfield, OH
2026 | Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
Members Exhibition
Cleveland, OH
2026 | BAYArts
Annual Juried Exhibition
Bay Village, OH
2026 | Gallery Plus
Recent Prints and Drawings by Jerry Smith
Cleveland, OH
2026 | E11even 2 Gallery
Barbie as Inspiration: It’s All Make Believe
Cleveland, OH
2025 | Valley Arts Center
54th Juried Art Exhibition
Chagrin Falls, OH
2025 | The Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
The New Now
Cleveland, OH
2025 | Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
Members Exhibition
Cleveland, OH
2025 | The Yards Project
Let’s Get Lost
Cleveland, OH
2025 | The Yards Project
Cleveland Bouquet
Cleveland, OH
2024 | Valley Arts Center
53rd Juried Art Exhibition
Chagrin Falls, OH
2024 | The Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
The New Now
Cleveland, OH
2024 | Zanesville Museum of Art
78th Ohio Annual Exhibition
Zanesville, OH
2024 | 14th May Show
Lakeland Juried Art Exhibition
The Gallery at Lakeland
Kirtland, OH
2024 | Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
Annual Members Exhibition
Cleveland, OH
2024 | BAYArts
2024 Annual Juried Exhibition
Bay Village, OH
2023 | Valley Arts Center
52nd Juried Art Exhibition
Chagrin Falls, OH
2023 | 13th May Show
Lakeland Juried Art Exhibition
The Gallery at Lakeland
Kirtland, OH
2023 | Dresses: Paintings and Drawings by Jerry Smith
Gallery +
Cleveland, OH
2023 | Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
Annual Members Exhibition
Cleveland, OH
2022 | The Artist Archives of the Western Reserve
The New Now
Cleveland, OH
2019 | Human Figure Exhibition
Cuyahoga Valley Art Center
Cuyahoga Falls
2010 | Go Figure
Drawings by Ron Wilson and Jerry Smith
Cain Park, Cleveland, OH