Marv Smith
FEATURED ARTIST

E. 9th St., Cleveland, OH 44114  216-771-0900

 

 

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Marvin Smith loved his life.
A dedicated artist, mentor, teacher and poet, his career spans some 50 years, mostly in the greater Cleveland area. He was a master printmaker, painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, and his com¬missioned sculpted, low-relief tile murals are on view nationally, in both public and private locations. Many of these public commis¬sions are in the Cleveland area: National City Bank, downtown; Vermilion Public Library; North Coast Behavioral Center, Northfield campus; Cleveland Heights Public Library; Southwest General Hospital; Lutheran Hospital; American Greetings Corporation; as well as the 'late' Cooper School of Art and Hollendon House. His largest public installation resides at the Pauline Warfield Psychiatric Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council, and includes some 800 square feet of ceramic murals and sculpture created specifically for the new facility's architectural design.

He taught at Cooper School of Art from1965-1970; was an illustrator at American Greetings from 1960-65, and creative consultant there from 1982-1997, when he retired. He was artist in residence in Buckhannon, West Virginia from 1973-75; ceramics instructor at the Augusta Heritage Workshop in Elkins, WV, 1975-76; Illustrator and art director for Bright of America Corporation in Summersville, WV. from 1978-1981, and at Abbey Press, St Meinrad, IN from 1981-82. He taught workshops and classes in ceramics, printmaking, painting and drawing throughout his career, and conducted many public service workshops, including Templum House, Parknell School, and Westhaven Shelter.

He was interviewed in 2001 by Artist Archives of the Western Reserve, as part of their Oral History Project. The transcript as well as the interview is available online at: www.artistsarchives.org/archives.html, as is a small portfolio of his work. It contains a wonderful history of Cleveland's art scene in the 60's and early 70's. Other area artists' interviews, as well as their portfolios, are also accessible at this site.

Marvin was diagnosed in 2001 with Central Nervous System Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer of the nervous system that created a brain tumor and subsequent loss of memory, cognitive and spatical ability which affected his art making and daily life. During the 5.5 years that he survived this cancer and its complications, which included vision loss, he continued making art and writing poetry, and faced his illness with amazing courage and dignity. He died on September 14, 2006, and is survived by three daughters and one son. He was 74 years old. Per his request, his body was donated to the body donation program at the Cleveland Clinic, where it will be used for educational and research purposes.

Donations are greatly appreciated and may be made in his memory to the Artist Archives of the Western Reserve, the Poets and Writers' League of Greater Cleveland, Zygote Press, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, Hansen House, the Ohio Brain Injury Association, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and/or any institution or organization invested in bringing art into people's lives.

Any inquiries about Marvin's work may be directed to Marie Smith at 216-518-0384.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   


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Copyright 2007 by Lee Adams-North
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6th edition 2007
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