Smardo finding his niche in portraiture of firefighters
Pittsburg artist Frank Smardo, Standing with Pittsburg Firefighters, from left to right, Jim Radell, Capt. Don Elmer and Chuck Munsell. Smardo, Who specializes in portraiture, has drawn portraits for several members of the Pittsburg fire department.
October 11, 1999
"Morning Sun" Newspaper
By NIKKI PATRICK
Morning Sun Family Living Editor
Several years ago, just for fun, artist frank smardo did some sketches of firefighters in a small rural texas town.Now he does 100 to 200 portraits of firefighters every year. The sketches usually show a likeness of the firefighter with a background of an action scene, such as a fire rescue.
"The print honors firefighters of the nation, and especially Pittsburg, who really lay their lives on the line to protect us," Smardo said. "This is government in action that really works." He worked with firefighters across the country "and it seems to be pretty consistent - they are dedicated, clean-living, just generally nice people."
A Pittsburg native who lived and worked in dallas, texas, the past 18 years, Smardo has high praise for his hometown firefighters. "The Pittsburg Fire Department is at least as good as the best I've seen," he said. "If you refer to the rescue scenes depicted in the morning sun last fall, you can readily observe the pittsburg fire department lending a helping hand to local citizens who desperately needed it." He has never been a fireman himself. "But I was in the forest service and fought forest fires," Smardo said. "I've gagged on enough smoke to know a little of what these guys go thourgh."
He holds a bachelor of fine arts in commercial art from the University of Kansas. He had a 30 year career in the commercial field, serving as creative director, art director and advertising manager, winning many awards. In 1990, however, he moved to fine arts fulltime. He is now represented by galleries in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. He is known for his unique art, and also offers custom portraits though his studio, Personal Touch Portraits.
"My absolute favorite things to do are children and horses." Smardo said. "With a portrait, the longer you have it, the more important it becomes." This is one reason why most of his current work is in the form of pencil sketches, though he has also worked in acrylics, watercolor and oils.
"If you look at art history, you'll see that many oil paintings by artists such as da Vinci and Michelangelo have disintegrated over the centuries, but their preliminary pencil sketches are still in pretty good shape," Smardo Said. "A pencil sketch can last 200 to 400 years."
He is currently working on a project in Dallas to do portraits of all 49 city firefighters who have died during the performance of their duties. He has also been commissioned by the Rural Community Fire Institute to do a print of a memorial to fallen firefighters.
It's still thrilling for Smardo to work with the firefighters. "As much as I've been around fire stations, when one of those fire engines rolls, I still get a lump in my throat," he said.