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Robert Smith — a longtime artist
Robert Ramsey Smith of LaPorte is a longtime artist in every sense.
He was born in Chicago and raised in Beverly Shores. He attended the Art Institute; he didn’t graduate though. He joined the Army in 1968, where he worked in drafting, mapping and hydrology. He came back to Indiana in 1981.
“It didn’t work out so well, so I went back to California for another 10 years. Tried Sioux Falls, too, because I heard they practically tackle you to work, but that wasn’t right for me either. So from 1993 to 1995, I decided I’d try to make a living with my art,” Smith mentioned. He added, “I used to go to a lot of shows and festivals, but they’re not so much like they used to be. Instead of being dependent on companies, I decided
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I’d just live and learn.”
Over time, things got better.
“I do just copies of drawings and put them in a bin to sell now. The best I ever did as far as selling was in Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, but I got tired of the driving. Just one way was 96 miles, and I felt closed in and claustrophobic,” Smith explained.
Smith’s work is beautifully detailed.
“I do ink drawings and pencil colorings. I look through old books and things like that, old railroad stations and mansions. Ink is more my specialty. I am doing Illinois Central Station now, and the Water Tower in 1870, after it was completed in 1869,” said Smith.
He doesn’t just do railroad pictures, though.
“I also do old historic homes in Chicago and Michigan. The vast majority of them have been torn down. My work was accepted in the cultural center in Chicago,” he explained.
Some of his work included the mansions of Cyrus McCormick, Marshall Field, William Wrigley and Al Capone. He also drew the infamous O’Leary cabin, long known as the place where the cow kicked over the lantern and started the great Chicago fire. Smith had heard it was actually caused by a group of squatters who had started a fire in a barn.
Smith is also a gifted photographer.
“Oh yes. I used to do tons and tons of it, hundreds of pictures. But I don’t like that everything is digital now, so computerized. I’m old, and I don’t like that. I don’t even use email,” he said.
But Smith does love trains. “I have always had an interest in the train scene. Most of my travels have been done by train. My biggest train ride was the Trans-Siberian, back in 1971, from the east coast of Siberia to Moscow. That took seven days,” Smith said. It is apparent in his attention to every detail in every rendition he draws. The historic stations and buildings live on in more than just memory; look at them closely and you’ll feel yourself standing inside.
