One Hundred Artists Deep

Over the course of their lives, Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith taught and mentored thousands of young artists and apprentices. Their ideas, values, and approaches to making continue to circulate—sometimes visibly, sometimes quietly—through subsequent generations of artists.

The eight participating artists were selected for the strength and diversity of their practices, as well as for their sensitive and intuitive approaches to art-making. They were invited to respond to works by Reid, Shadbolt, and Smith from the Artists for Kids and Gordon Smith Gallery Permanent Collection, with full freedom in how that response took shape. The historical works and the contemporary responses are presented together in the gallery, creating a space for conversation across time.

The exhibition’s title is drawn from a phrase that Smith often used, saying he was “a hundred artists deep” and stood “on the shoulders” of artists past and present. Every artist emerges from a layered history of influence—artistic, personal, familial, educational, and cultural. One Hundred Artists Deep reflects on this accumulated inheritance and the many ways artistic knowledge is carried forward.