About

About the Artist As a rancher/artist Ms. Smith likes to immerse herself daily in a lifestyle that attracts many to the romantic stereotype that has existed for decades.  Primarily a western artist Ms. Smith has been an Art Teacher as well as rancher in Harney County, Oregon.  Twenty-three years were spent at Mann Lake Ranch on the eastern face of the Steens Mountains.  The studio has changed locations and is now in another ranching community in northeastern Oregon.  Denise Smith's Ranch Studio is located in Heppner, Oregon on Little Buttercreek.  She continues her work capturing images from the ranching lifestyle. Ms. Smith is able to work in many mediums; pencil sketches, pastels, and linocuts with oils being her favorite.  Canvas Giclee Fine Art Prints, unique digital enhancements of her own photography, have been recently taking the majority of her time.  She offers a unique vision for the contemporary western lifestyle.  One that combines time honored traditions, rooted in the history of ranching and buckarooing with her love of the land and people.  Her images portray the high desert palette and her subjects are many times people with whom she has worked. Her goal in her work is to show the vast array of beauty in the ranching community.  She is able to show attention to details that will perhaps allow the viewers to glimpse some of this vision.  Her philosophy:  There is nothing that can compare to a good horse and the right rope, but the perfect image might come close!
IMAGES OF THE WEST,    Slick Pix STORY BY JENNIFER DENISON, a version of this story appeared in the July 2007 issue of Western Horseman Magazine. Buckaroo artist and horsewoman Denise Smith transforms photographs of everyday ranch life into works of art.	Denise Smith, Photo by Mary Williams Hyde
Artist: Denise Smith Hometown: Heppner, Oregon Family: Husband of 27 years, Charles “Sambo” Smith; son Cliff, 23, a welder in Casper, Wyoming; daughter Cory Smith-Dunten, 22, a ranch wife in Ironside, Oregon; and grandchildren Kelton and Kayli Dunten. Medium: Denise is primarily known for her oil paintings, but these days she spends most of her time creating digitally enhanced photographs with artistic qualities. She carries a camera in her saddlebags or the pickup, so she can capture images of traditional ranch life, then artistically manipulates them on a computer into pieces of contemporary art. “I use my own photography for my work, because the connection is more personal,” she says. “I like to record the things around me.” Education: Bachelors of Science in Art Education from the University of Oregon. Western background: A native Oregonian, Denise has a diverse riding background. Growing up in a small town on the coast, the horse-crazy kid didn’t get her first horse until she was in college at the University of Oregon, where she rode on the equestrian team in hunter classes. After that, she worked for Bob and Jolene Nelson of the Oxbow Ranch in Prairie City, Oregon, training green colts and turning back in the cutting pen. She also was an outrider for the State of Oregon Racing Commission in Salem. “If there was any opportunity that I could be around horses and make a living, I wanted it,” she says. Denise and her husband started their married lives together buckarooing at Mann Lake Ranch in Harney County, Oregon. Four years ago, they moved their horse and cow herds to Heppner, Oregon, where they currently work for Currin Ranches. Her start in Art: Just like most kids, Denise’s earliest artistic memories are of coloring with crayons in public school. Primarily a self-taught artist, Denise painted and accepted commissions as much as possible, while raising her children and working as an art teacher in Burns, Oregon. In 2003, after a 15-year teaching career, Denise left her job to pursue her dreams of ranching and painting fulltime. She opened her gallery in 2003. First painting sold: A commissioned work for a coworker featuring the woman’s father and his horse on the ranch in Lawen, Oregon. Denise created the painting in exchange for a breeding to the family’s stallion, Mr Cody Bull. Favorite color: Green. “It’s a growth color that I associate with freshness and renewal,” Denise says. Distinctive style: Denise’s digitally enhanced images are quite different from traditional Western photography and leave viewers wondering if the image is a photo or modern painting. She captures everyday ranch scenes, but pushes the boundaries, giving them a high-tech, contemporary feel by manipulating the color and contrast. “Photography traditionally has sharp focus, clear, perfect colors, and I like to play with that a little bit, take it a step further,” Denise says. “I’m going to push my photographic art to see how far I can take it without losing what I think is the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the image.” More than meets the eye: Denise says it takes her just as long, or sometimes longer, to complete a photographic piece than a painting. “People think I just snap a picture, then put it in the computer and push a button,” she says. “It’s much more involved than that. I have an extensive toolbox on my computer I use to do my photo art.” Harshest critics: Photographers who see images only in sharp focus. “Some photographers don’t see my work at legitimate, because my photos aren’t in sharp focus and true color,” Denise says. “But I have an eye, and I do things deliberately. That’s the thing about art: It’s so energizing and fun.” Studio environment: Denise’s creative retreat is a basement apartment that is showered with daylight and has a view of Little Buttercreek and the hills surrounding the ranch. Creative inspirations: Denise is inspired daily by the land, people and work associated with ranching. She’s someone who thrives on being outside, horseback, living the life she loves. “I like the everyday people, who get overlooked but are special to me,” she says. “Ranching is a hardscrabble business. It takes a special breed of selfless individuals to make a living simply because they like the lifestyle. I like to show them in a special light; I do my art out of admiration for them, their work and their traditions.” The artist is also moved by the varied Oregon landscapes. They have a certain abstract quality she finds appealing.  “I’ve always loved the desert country,” she says. “There’s something liberating about the wide-open spaces.” Her priorities: A day-worker on the ranch, Denise is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which prevents her from being able to travel to many shows and events. “Everything revolves around the ranch and calves,” she says.” During slow times on the ranch, however, she picks up her paint brush and is back in the studio or painting murals upon commission. And, her work is represented by regional galleries and retailers, such as Hamley’s in Pendleton, Oregon.
See the Western Horseman Magazine article about Denise in the July 2007 issue, page 152, "Images of the West, Slick Pix"  A version of the article appears here:  About the Artist Denise Smith See the cover and article by Lee Farren in the December 2008 issue of Cascade Horseman.