Artist, Jim Smith, was born in 1959 in West Bowling, Bradford. He was one of six children from a working class family. He showed an early aptitude for art and after leaving Fairfax School he attended an art foundation course at Bradford School of Art. However, he decided to seek employment in a local textile and continue to develop his art talent in his own time and in his own way. In an interview with the art writer, Andrew Liddle (Bradford Telegraph & Argus, 26 Aug 2025), Jim said:
I watched other artists, read books and proceeded by trial and error. I used to copy the old masters, Velasquez, Constable, Turner, as the best way to work out how they did it. I continued to paint in my spare time until 1980, when with the encouragement of professional painter, Brian Needham, I became a full time painter.
Jim began to paint, including scenes from his own memory and imagination, as well as commissioned work. Commissioned works have included logos, pub signs, pets, private houses, and murals for the Morrison Supermarket chain. He supplemented earnings from art by working in a range of unskilled jobs, including factories, bars and building sites. In the mid 1980s, for a period of time, Jim opened an art gallery in Scarborough to sell his own and other artists’ work. His style often combines realism with an ethereal or dream-like quality.
Image: see artist’s website, below.
He has also travelled widely, including to the Himalayas and jungle areas in the Far East, and his paintings – using mainly oils, but also watercolour, acrylics and pastels on occasion – reflect the impressions made on him by these locations.
Image: see artist’s website, below.
Exhibitions have included a solo show at the Chapel Street Community Arts Centre in 1993 and a dual show with fellow Bradford artist, Paul Copley, at the Chesham Gallery, University of Bradford, in 2004. His work has been collected by a wide range of people:
My paintings can be found in some pretty far-flung places – from a public building in India to a Tennessee millionaire’s mansion.
Image: see artist’s website, below.
Image: see artist’s website, below.
Image: see artist’s website, below.
Jim has also worked with patients at Little Horton Clinic, Bradford, demonstrating art. He believes in the healing and therapeutic power of art. He believes in showing by doing:
I taught by example and after a few lessons people who’d never held a brush before were doing great things.
Artist Contact: jimsmithartist.co.uk