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Over thirty years professionally creating beautiful anthropomorphic metal (copper, bronze and stainless steel) frog sculpture. My monumental sculpture is in museums, parks, gardens, other public places and countless private collections across the US and internationally. Happy clients, all. Beau Smith
The Process
The process is basically this: I begin with sheet copper, manipulate it, cut it and shape it, and weld it together using a process called brazing, which involves welding together copper with bronze using an oxy-acetylene torch. These days very few still use an oxy-acetylene troch. It is becoming a lost art.
Where applicable, I reinforce my structures with stainless steel, which does not rust. Thus, the materials that I work with are as permanent as can be. They will last a long, long time, longer than you or I or our children and grandchildren.
When the sculpture is complete, I most often give it a blue-green patina using acids and other chemicals. I can also wire brush areas. Sometimes I wire brush the entire piece. Especially for smaller work I do that so you can enjoy holding it and feeling the bare copper. For larger work that typically goes outside, I often finish by coating it with Permalac. This reduces the wear and tear on the patina so that it will last longer, at least ten years. By that time, all one need do is give it another coat of Permalac, and the sculpture will be good to go outside for another ten years or so.
This process is labor intensive. But I enjoy the work. I enjoy making sculptures that make others laugh and smile and have fun. Click To See Pictures.
Where applicable, I reinforce my structures with stainless steel, which does not rust. Thus, the materials that I work with are as permanent as can be. They will last a long, long time, longer than you or I or our children and grandchildren.
When the sculpture is complete, I most often give it a blue-green patina using acids and other chemicals. I can also wire brush areas. Sometimes I wire brush the entire piece. Especially for smaller work I do that so you can enjoy holding it and feeling the bare copper. For larger work that typically goes outside, I often finish by coating it with Permalac. This reduces the wear and tear on the patina so that it will last longer, at least ten years. By that time, all one need do is give it another coat of Permalac, and the sculpture will be good to go outside for another ten years or so.
This process is labor intensive. But I enjoy the work. I enjoy making sculptures that make others laugh and smile and have fun. Click To See Pictures.
History
Beau Smith's sculpture brings joy and allows people to reconnect with nature, whimsy, and innocence.
As you step into his workshop and watch the sculptor hammer, bend and weld copper, transforming raw metals into life giving animated Frogs, you realize you have stepped into another world, a world of enchantment, wonder, and fun.
Beau Smith grew up in a family of artists. His Grandmother was water color artist and his father became a sculptor after leaving the science profession. Both the grandmother and the father were professionals. Beau was eager to become an artist. As a teenager, he contributed art to an important exhibit collaborative exhibit with his father and grandmother.
Beau learned the art and craft of metal sculpting from his father. Beau's father originated the human-sized copper frog in the early '80s. Charles Smith, Beau's dad, also a Renaissance man, turned to sculptor mid-career in the early 70s. Before sculpting, Charles Smith was a scientist and mathematician. After much experiment in the realm of metal sculpture, Charles discovered the Frog.
As a kid, Beau's backyard in downtown, Charleston, South Carolina, was filled with metal sculpture, abstract, figurative, and whimsical - his father worked in many genres before settling on Frogs. "My backyard was like a bizarre Martian landscape, with Martians. All the wild sculptures…" Beau recalls.
In the early 80s, one of Charles's patrons suggested that Charles sculpt a frog. The implication, of course, was that if the patron liked the work, he would buy it. Like it, he did. And Charles did, too. He built more Frogs, most of them large. Every Frog he made, he sold. He had, in effect, stumbled onto a niche.
Though this was not the only reason making Frogs appealed to Charles, financial incentive is a strong one. As he continued to sculpt Frogs, his craftsmanship and artistry in making them grew. Son's Beau and Alexander watched the Frogs take off. They apprenticed during early periods of Frogmaking, and before.
Beau graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in film and illustration. Strangely enough, this background prepared him for the art he would later make, as the Frog sculptures have an animated quality.
Some years after Charles had been steadily making Frog after Frog, and selling them easily, his two sons, Beau and Alexander, hopped aboard and began making them as well. The Smiths now work independently. Beau Smith had
his studio in Atlanta area in Smyrna. Now he works at his studio in Mount Pleasant, SC, near Charleston.
In the past the Smith have had shows together. For several years in a row, the Smiths exhibited at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, where the gardens now has a permanent collection of Smith Frogs. The Smiths also exhibited at the New York's Wave Hill Gardens. The Smiths have called themselves "Frog Smiths". Many know their work collectively as "the Smith Frogs."
As you step into his workshop and watch the sculptor hammer, bend and weld copper, transforming raw metals into life giving animated Frogs, you realize you have stepped into another world, a world of enchantment, wonder, and fun.
Beau Smith grew up in a family of artists. His Grandmother was water color artist and his father became a sculptor after leaving the science profession. Both the grandmother and the father were professionals. Beau was eager to become an artist. As a teenager, he contributed art to an important exhibit collaborative exhibit with his father and grandmother.
Beau learned the art and craft of metal sculpting from his father. Beau's father originated the human-sized copper frog in the early '80s. Charles Smith, Beau's dad, also a Renaissance man, turned to sculptor mid-career in the early 70s. Before sculpting, Charles Smith was a scientist and mathematician. After much experiment in the realm of metal sculpture, Charles discovered the Frog.
As a kid, Beau's backyard in downtown, Charleston, South Carolina, was filled with metal sculpture, abstract, figurative, and whimsical - his father worked in many genres before settling on Frogs. "My backyard was like a bizarre Martian landscape, with Martians. All the wild sculptures…" Beau recalls.
In the early 80s, one of Charles's patrons suggested that Charles sculpt a frog. The implication, of course, was that if the patron liked the work, he would buy it. Like it, he did. And Charles did, too. He built more Frogs, most of them large. Every Frog he made, he sold. He had, in effect, stumbled onto a niche.
Though this was not the only reason making Frogs appealed to Charles, financial incentive is a strong one. As he continued to sculpt Frogs, his craftsmanship and artistry in making them grew. Son's Beau and Alexander watched the Frogs take off. They apprenticed during early periods of Frogmaking, and before.
Beau graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, majoring in film and illustration. Strangely enough, this background prepared him for the art he would later make, as the Frog sculptures have an animated quality.
Some years after Charles had been steadily making Frog after Frog, and selling them easily, his two sons, Beau and Alexander, hopped aboard and began making them as well. The Smiths now work independently. Beau Smith had
his studio in Atlanta area in Smyrna. Now he works at his studio in Mount Pleasant, SC, near Charleston.
In the past the Smith have had shows together. For several years in a row, the Smiths exhibited at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, where the gardens now has a permanent collection of Smith Frogs. The Smiths also exhibited at the New York's Wave Hill Gardens. The Smiths have called themselves "Frog Smiths". Many know their work collectively as "the Smith Frogs."
The Studio
The Smith Frogs have received much attention and acclaim over the years. They reside in many public places across the US and abroad as well as in countless private collections. A children's museum in Honduras, funded by the World Bank, has fifteen Frogs. An elementary school near Wave Hill Gardens has a large permanent collection, as does the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The prestigious gardens of Quebec's Les Quatre Vents have a large collection of Charles's Frogs. The work appears in, The Greater Perfection, a book about the gardens. The city of Smyrna has several of Beau's Frogs in its downtown area. The Clifton Park Half-Moon Library in Clifton Park, New York, bought and installed two of Beau's Frogs. This is to name but a few public installations.
The Frogs have been in commercials and advertisements. They are constant photo ops. Several of Beau's Frogs provided a backdrop for a performance by Travis Tritt at the 1995 Country Music Awards.
WHERE CAN I SEE ONE?
Some of the places you can see a Beau Smith Frog:
If you want to go see Frogs in a gallery, call first to make sure they have one (or more) in, and consider, if you go to a gallery, buying from them.
Other than galleries, the best places to see Frogs is at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and in the Smyrna, downtown shopping area. Both of these places are easy access if you are in Atlanta or plan to visit.
Also, if you plan to buy a Frog and you want to meet me and see a Frog or two in progress, email or call and we can schedule a visit to my workshop.
The Frogs have been in commercials and advertisements. They are constant photo ops. Several of Beau's Frogs provided a backdrop for a performance by Travis Tritt at the 1995 Country Music Awards.
WHERE CAN I SEE ONE?
Some of the places you can see a Beau Smith Frog:
- The Atlanta Botanical Gardens.
- Downtown Smyrna, GA
- Habersham Gardens in Atlanta …
- Thrasher Park - Norcross
- Half Moon Park Public Library - Clifton, N.Y.
- Gold's Gym - Douglasville, Ga
- Children's museum in Honduras - World Bank
- Elementary School near New York State's Wave Hill Gardens
- One of a Kind Gallery in downtown Charleston, SC
If you want to go see Frogs in a gallery, call first to make sure they have one (or more) in, and consider, if you go to a gallery, buying from them.
Other than galleries, the best places to see Frogs is at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and in the Smyrna, downtown shopping area. Both of these places are easy access if you are in Atlanta or plan to visit.
Also, if you plan to buy a Frog and you want to meet me and see a Frog or two in progress, email or call and we can schedule a visit to my workshop.