One of Ned Smith’s more famous paintings.
Ned Smith is a Pennsylvania icon. Let’s get that out of the way right up front.
The long-time artist and illustrator for Game News magazine – and, occasionally, Pennsylvania Angler – died of a heart attack at age 65 in 1985.
Yet, his book about spending time in the outdoors, “Gone for the Day,” remains in print more than 50 years after its first printing. Reproductions of his paintings continue to sell, too.
Gone for the Day remains in print more than 50 years after its debut.
So though he’s been long gone, Smith remains well known to sportsmen and women.
Or, at least, his work does.
Now there’s a chance to get to know a little more about Ned Smith the man.
The Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Project and WITF recently debuted a documentary on Smith’s life. It’s titled “Ned Smith: Gone for the Day.”
The nearly 30 minute film traces Smith’s beginnings from a child through his career.
Did you know he never went to art school? That he might never have had the career he did if not for losing his job in a machine shop in 1938? That he was thrust into becoming an editor of Game News because of the Korean War?
A number of people who knew Smith or have studied his work help to tell his tale.
Wildlife artist Bob Sopchik, Game News associate editor Joe Kosack and nature writer Scott Weidensaul all speak.
The Smith documentary is the latest in a line of several produced by the Heritage Project. Others focus on Maurice K. Goddard, who managed state parks and forests under five governors; Mira Lloyd Dock, who led efforts to clean water, but state forest land, develop parks and otherwise give Pennsylvania residents access to a healthy environment; Gifford Pinchot, the two-term Pennsylvania governor who also helped establish scientific study of the field of forestry; and Ralph Abele, the long-time executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission who coined the “resource first” philosophy still practiced today.
More Ned Smith
And if the Smith video stirs your interest in the man and his works?
The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art is a wonderful place to visit. It features work by Smith and others, has hiking trails on its grounds, hosts assorted programs and more. Learn more about it by clicking here.
