Smock, William

William Smock was noticed at a very young age with a talent for art. His enthusiasm for art grew through his college years at the University of Indianapolis graduating in 1971 with a BS Degree in Art Education. In 1976 he earned an MA Degree in Art Education at Ball State University and completed a second MA Degree in Art at the University of Indianapolis in 2010.

For 38 years after graduating from college, Bill spent teaching elementary art in Decatur Township in Indianapolis and being in the Indiana Army National Guard reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was deployed twice to Iraq in 2005 and 2008. After retiring from the National Guard and from teaching school in 2009, Bill moved to his farm by Idaville, IN. Currently, he spends his summers painting in Newfoundland, Canada.

Bill's paintings have been in solo art shows at the University of Indianapolis in 2006, 2010, and 2021, The National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago in 2006, The Monticello Arts Beat and the library in Monticello in 2010 and 2022 and has an upcoming show at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation building in Lafayette in November 2023. His military paintings have hung at the White House in Washington DC, at the Pentagon, and at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. His paintings have been accepted in the Hoosier Salon art shows, Indiana Artists Club shows, and at the Indiana State Fair.

In Iraq Bill painted almost every day completing over 100 paintings mostly watercolor in the nearly two years he spent in Iraq. Currently, his favorite media is oil on canvas. He enjoys painting the simple everyday life of people, landscapes, and seascapes. Emphasis in his paintings is placed on light and color. Even though his paintings lean toward realism, they have an impressionistic quality in them.