Leo and Marilyn Smith Folk Art Collection

For the past 30 years, Winona, MN natives and Fountain City, WI residents Leo and Marilyn Smith have carved and painted wood and cast in bronze portraits, figures, objects and wall panels depicting the people, flora and fauna of the upper Mississippi River region. Their work is beautiful and stunning, critically and publicly acclaimed and is collected by Folk Art enthusiasts worldwide.

The MMAM has acquired more than four hundred original works and bronze molds of the Smith Folk Art Collection since April 2005.

"This extraordinary collection of folk art sculptures in wood and bronze is an American treasure that has earned a place of distinction in the hearts and minds of gallery and museum curators, private art collectors and art journalists and critics across the world. This collection is a body of magical work that spans nearly four decades of the devotion and artistry of Leo and Marilyn Smith, and with this acquisition, this priceless collection will forever remain a part of the rich story of this River valley,” explains Board of Director Bud Baechler.

Internationally collected, the compelling folk art sculptures are born in the imagination of Leo Smith III as he regularly immerses himself in the wonder of the hills, cliffs, forests, swamps and sandbars of the upper Mississippi River Valley. “The River and the people, the legends and myths that shape the heritage of this place are really the fuel of our inspiration,” Leo Smith said. “Marilyn and I have been so lucky,” he says, “Our life and work are almost the same thing.”

Leo is the carver and Marilyn the painter. Mostly self-taught, the Smiths are master storytellers who spin their folk yarns and bring them to life in pieces of wood found in the nearby forest or floating down the River. Some pieces of flotsam, more than a century old, spring to life in the hearts and hands of the Smiths.

Additionally, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum exclusively sells limited edition, high quality and hand painted reproductions of select pieces of the Smiths' sculptures in the Museum Store.

 

River Creatures 

Now Showing and exhibit of carved and painted wood sculptures depicting the animals of our region.  Through May 2008.

River Horse Mask  Painted and carved wood

Woodpecker Mask  Painted and carved wood and leather.

 

Trempeleau Mountain  Triptych, carved and painted wood.

Trumpeter Swan Painted and carved wood