About Jeffery Smeal

The Prosaic:  

Peter Smeal is an artist and artisan whose primary focus for the last twenty years has been the creation props, masks and puppets to delight children and their families.  He is a proud alumnus of William Carey University (No, you’ve never heard of it but you should have) where he earned his BFA back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  He has over twenty years of experience as a professional with over thirty companies.  Peter has a box in his closet holding thirteen very dusty Metrolina Theatre Association awards for acting, directing, set and prop design including the William Rackley Award for Technical Excellence and the “Perry” award for Most Extreme Actor.   He also has an indomitable will, an inimitable way, an unquenchable thirst, an irrepressible spirit and the firm, pert physique of a Romanian gymnast.

The Poetic: 

 I love making stuff. 

I love looking at things to see what other things they could be.  I love taking things apart, losing half the pieces and making new things with what’s left.  I love making something that isn’t pretty sparkle as much as making something pretty look like it has been buried under a pile of ancient socks in a root cellar for thirty years.  I love rooting through boxes in closets and crates in junk stores.

I love libraries and archives and hunting for pictures and obscure facts online.  I love learning how to do new things using techniques no one uses anymore.  I love knowing that I don’t know everything there is to know and that I never will.  

I love crisp new paper and squeaky markers… discount bins full of inks and brushes and glues and tools I haven’t tried… light boxes…opaque projectors…my Dremel…my cordless drill…my glue gun, oh god, my glue gun.

 I have been this way as long as I can remember.  My mom is an artist/crafter and when she picked up a new skill she tried to teach me.  One day I asked her for a robot friend and she helped me build one.  We made him out of cracker boxes and rolls of poster board and pipe cleaners.  He was as tall as me, his name was Go-Go-Tron and he was AWESOME.  She got it from her father who carved his own hooks and needles and spindles to weave the fishing nets he used every day but who also made beautiful clever little boats driven by twisted rubber bands.  So I suppose I come by it naturally.

I love collaboration -  being a piece of a larger entity working toward a common goal.  Over the years I’ve learned my best place is in expanding and enhancing someone else’s vision.  I work best being given a seed to grow from. A flexible frame…boundaries to mark my path…helps to keep me from growing too wild.

  I love, love, LOVE being around other creative people and learning from them and being inspired by them.  I love late nights with loud music and coffee, solid decisions made from deep discussions and work plans scribbled on napkins.

I love all the arts but I love theatre best because it contains all the world within it and you have to know a good bit about everything in the world to make it well. Lastly, I love having a roof over my head and food to keep me alive.  So, if you like what you see here, please let me make stuff for you.


Free Online Portfolio