Tucker Smith

Well known as a nature and wildlife artist, Tucker Smith was born in 1940 in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1952 he and his family moved to Pinedale, Wyoming. Tucker graduated from Pinedale High School in 1958 and received a B.S. degree from the University of Wyoming in 1963, with a major in mathematics and a minor in art. After working eight years as a computer programmer and systems analyst for the State of Montana, the urge to paint, an activity he had enjoyed all his life, prevailed. He started painting full time in 1971. Smith’s hard work and talent have earned him his place among contemporary Western artists. “I believe the purpose of art is to enhance people’s lives through decoration, stimulation of intellect, association with personal experiences, and provocation of romantic or other conceptions. A legitimate means for artists to achieve these purposes is by depicting nature. In today's high-tech and complicated world many people have little contact with the natural world. However, we are all inseparably linked to it. Art depicting wildlife and nature reminds us of the importance of it to our soul and psyche,” related Tucker. Smith paints primarily in oil but also works with watercolor and dry-brush sepia. Tucker and his wife, Jean, returned to live on the Hoback Rim, 30 miles north of Pinedale, Wyoming in 1993. Their home is at the foot of the Wind River Mountains from which he draws inspiration.