The rural images by Gary Ernest Smith featured on our cover reflect the artist’s upbringing on a cattle ranch and farm in northeastern Oregon, an area that produces potatoes as well as cattle. After obtaining an MFA, Smith taught art at Brigham Young University from 1970–73, served as art gallery director for two years, and did commission work. He decided to leave the demands, and the security, of academia and commissioned work because he wanted “to go out and be an artist,” to paint his own ideas full time.
