By Julene Thompson
Casey Smith''s childhood pictures won''t fit on the refrigerator anymore.
Instead, they will be displayed in the Harris Fine Arts Center June 3-14.
Smith blew up some of his childhood scrawls as large as 8 by 10.5 feet, painted canvas to look like lined paper, and used a thick graphite pencil to draw them.
Smith said his paintings are intended to make a personal statement about a natural male propensity toward aggression.
'My idea to manipulate my drawings as a kid was triggered by 9-11,' he said. 'I thought about my past and what I used to draw and they were mostly pencil drawings of tanks, airplanes, bullets, and destruction. Most guys I''ve talked to drew pictures like that. It''s normal.'
Smith''s mom said male responses to her son''s work were as she expected.
'Guys said, ''Yeah, I''ve drawn pictures like that,''' said Joanne Smith, Casey Smith''s mother who has been an art teacher for 15 years at Timpview High School.
'I raised two boys. They like to wrestle with each other. They love when the men in their lives rough house with them. They punch each other as a greeting. It''s very natural and gender associated,' she said.
She explained that natural male aggression is good if boys can keep that energy channeled toward needed efforts like protecting, defending.
'After years of seeing boy art and girl art I noticed that (Casey) was just drawing what was natural,' Joanne Smith said. 'Boys have a natural aggression in them that civilized men learn to control.'
Smith''s mom saved some of his childhood pictures but they aren''t all he paints now. Fellow students say Smith is dedicated to different sides of art. He is making plans to go to graduate school to study art.
'He''s dedicated to his work and being an artist. I think that''s very admirable - the time he puts into it,' said Camille Nugent, 23, a senior from Jamaica majoring in painting.
'Most children past the age of eight spontaneously drop drawing,' Joanne Smith said. 'They become self-conscious as they notice that the real world is different from their drawings. Casey never stopped. He kept working at it.'
A reception featuring Casey Smith''s work along with the work of Sean Morello, Rebekah Pletsh, and Jared Harlow will take place in the Harris Fine Arts Center Friday, June 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Food will be served.
All the student work will be displayed from June 3-14.
Casey Smith''s final show will be exhibited in December.