A B O U T   Karl Beckwith Smith

Karl B. Smith III was born in 1950 in Saranac Lake, New York. Karl’s early years were spent in Connecticut and New York. He attended St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH where he graduated Cum Laude. While at St. Paul’s, Smith’s early interest in art was kindled.

In 1972 Karl graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Art History. While at Princeton in he studied painting with Esteban Vicente… and was the first undergraduate to submit paintings for his thesis. After graduation Smith traveled extensively in Europe, visiting 38 countries.

Art has always been Smith’s motivating force. He painted for ten years while living in the New York neighborhood of Tribeca. Karl was also a studio assistant for a Guggenheim Fellow and managed a gallery for imported art in the Soho District.

In 1983 Karl Smith moved to Cold Spring on the Hudson, NY where he established Turn-of-the Century Art Gallery. While living in Cold Spring, Smith participated in numerous exhibits shown in the Hudson Valley. He received a grant from the New York State Council for the Arts to produce an exhibit of 50 drawings illustrating historic houses of the Hudson River Valley. The exhibit traveled to six museums and was published as a book in 1989: Hudson Heritage, an Artist Perspective on Architecture.

Karl moved to Charleston in 1992, where he opened Halcyon Place Gallery on Wentworth Street and a design studio in Folly Beach. An avid supporter of the arts in Charleston, Smith lends his incredible talent to many worthwhile charities. He is a founding Board Member of the Charleston Horticultural Society, and is the former Art Director/Designer for the Charleston Garden Show.