My name is Louis smith I am a Fine artist, Sculptor, Fabricator and Educator living in Cardiff, my work is based in sculpture, puppetry, Interactive installation and outdoor artwork. I have a keen interest in anything hands-on or messy, and I’m most at home working on something so big you cannot tell what it is until you are standing far away from it. Commissioned to create large scenic props, sculptures and other made objects for companies in and around South Wales such as; The BBC, National Theatre Wales, Wales Millennium Center and Welsh National Opera. With nearly a decade of professional making and sculpting experience, ranging from permanent public artworks for Caerphilly council, fully mechanised puppets for the National Theatre, to enormous hats for the FA World Cup. I am a Royal Welsh college of Music and Drama, Design for Performance graduate (2020).
My work is centered on the unseen; magical and mythological and how various forms of art can tell stories. I try to integrate performance, interaction and musicianship, into my own work as much as possible as the work I create is designed to be touched and interacted with; my goal is to remove that ‘do not touch’ mentality that is ingrained in us from an early age when looking at public art. Growing up in an area which up until recently has been underfunded in the arts I have a keen interest in community-based art and workshops, working alongside companies to create accessible art at grassroots level within local communities for everyone to see.
I explore work in many different mediums with diverse skills in clay sculpture, molding, casting, stone carving, woodcarving, metal work, and poly carving, with recent commissions involving copper and stone and polystyrene and eco concrete. Working within the theatre and events industry I often use harmful materials, so in my personal work I attempt to be more sustainable through innovative materials old and new. Working closely with companies such as Theatre Greenbook to run workshops for professionals on sustainable making practices within the industry.