Award-winning painter Celia Smith may be approaching her 97th birthday, but she has no intention of putting down her brush anytime soon. The Lawrence-based artist will showcase her latest creations at this weekend's Art in the Park, a tradition she has maintained since the late 1960s.
For nearly a century, Smith has lived a life dedicated to observation and artistic creation, much of it in her Lawrence home that appears to be a typical 1960s split-level from the street but reveals itself as a tribute to her native Spain once inside. Born during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, Smith has transformed her residence into a gallery of hand-crafted pottery, paintings, and Old World furniture that reflects her Mediterranean heritage.
Navigating through her home with the aid of two canes, Smith enthusiastically points out favorite pieces along the way to her studio. In a narrow hallway hangs a particularly meaningful work - a family portrait that captures the essence of her loved ones. The mostly green painting, divided by a blue cross, features her husband, a retired University of Kansas professor, engaged in his favorite activity of reading in the upper left corner. Smith appears in the bottom right, surrounded by her artwork at Art in the Park, while her children and grandchild occupy the remaining spaces, all engaged in creative pursuits and surrounded by beloved animals.
"The main focus is on how fast the years go and how we grow old," Smith reflects, speaking from the perspective of someone who has now outlived one of her daughters. Her journey to Lawrence began about 65 years ago when she met her husband Robert after coming to the United States to study in Boston. The couple's adventures took them to Paraguay and on extensive travels throughout Europe and South America, including many years spent at a cabin in the Idaho mountains.
"I married a nice, good-looking American who got this job at KU, so we came to Lawrence," Smith says with matter-of-fact charm tinged with girlish delight. The couple still resides in the same home they built in Lawrence's Indian Hills neighborhood during Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Initially, Smith worked as a librarian by day and painted in a makeshift basement studio, but as her artistic career flourished, they added a professional-grade studio above their garage, designed by architect Dan Rockhill.
The light-filled studio serves as both workspace and library, housing multiple copies of Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" among other volumes. Smith feels a deep connection to her fellow, albeit fictional, countryman. "He's so far-fetched," she says of Quixote, who famously mistook windmills for giants and prostitutes for princesses, "but he represents the power of imagination and the desire, if sometimes delusional, to make the world a more beautiful place."
Currently resting on her easel is a half-finished acrylic painting she was preparing specifically for this weekend's Art in the Park. The studio, complete with a wood-burning stove that sits dormant in the August heat, overlooks a Mediterranean-style garden featuring a sparkling blue swimming pool - an oasis that allows Smith to remain connected to the natural world that has inspired her art throughout her life.
"Painting was our fun," Smith recalls of her childhood in Málaga on Spain's Costa del Sol. "We always painted." She shares this artistic heritage with Pablo Picasso, another painter who spent his childhood in Málaga four decades earlier. While Picasso remains one of her favorite artists, Smith prefers his Blue Period over his later abstract works. Impressionist Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh also rank among her artistic influences.
Throughout her career, Smith has shown particular fondness for painting the landscapes and history of her adopted country. "We have had a wonderful life in Lawrence," she says, noting her commitment to learning about the area's rich past. One memorable project involved recreating the journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with her husband, starting in Missouri and painting their way to the Pacific Coast.
"One day, Thomas Jefferson conceived the idea, the curiosity, and asked 'What is beyond those mountains?' and he got Lewis and Clark to go see," Smith explains. Her painting dedicated to the famous expedition depicts the people, animals, and majestic landscapes the explorers encountered. Another significant work, titled "Kansas Stories," combines four different periods of state history on a single canvas, including pre-European settlement, the Pawnee legend of the Morning Star, frontiersman Wild Bill Hickok, and anti-liquor crusader Carrie Nation. As with many of her works, native animals and plants form animated borders around the historical scenes.
One room in Smith's home is devoted entirely to works by other artists she has encountered throughout her life, many met at events like Art in the Park and similar gatherings. "None of this work is mine," she clarifies, though the distinction is obvious as these beloved pieces bear no resemblance to her own distinctive style or to one another, united only by their creators' shared desire "to go see."
This weekend's Art in the Park represents the Lawrence Art Guild's premier fundraising event, taking place in South Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Visitors will have the opportunity to view and purchase Smith's work, continuing a tradition that has connected her to the Lawrence community for over five decades. Her paintings commonly feature both domestic pets and wild creatures, often incorporated into larger narratives that blend history, imagination, and her keen observations of the natural world.
