Cherokee Vengeance – the Fall of Ft. Loudoun

Cherokee Vengeance: Victory at Cane Creek, The last painting in a five-part series depicting the life and times of Ft. Loudoun

The Cherokee warrior lunges confidently forward, war club poised above his head, poised to strike down the Redcoat, as he frantically draws his sword..Another surprised soldier loads his flintlock, while a laundress lifts a musket from an unconscious Redcoat,trying to protect herself from the Cherokee onslaught. Chaos. The startled members of the King’s army scramble to defend themselves against the sudden assault.

This is the latest subject in historical artist Ken Smith’s series on the history of Fort Loudoun, which is on permanent loan to the Fort Loudoun Association, and is on display in the Fort Loudoun State Historic Area’s Museum and Visitor Center. A limited edition of 250 prints are available for sale to the public. Cherokee Vengeance completes the series of five paintings based on the life of Fort Loudoun.

As a part of this historic site’s 250th anniversary celebration, the Fort Loudoun Association, the park’s friends group, commissioned Smith to depict key elements of each year of the fort’s existence. Cherokee Vengeance is the last in the series and represents the final moments of the relationship between the Cherokee and the garrison of Fort Loudoun after Captain Demere, of the Independent Company of South Carolina, surrendered the fort to the natives on August 8, 1760. The morning after leaving the fort, while preparing to depart their camp at Cane Creek (near present day Belltown, Tennessee), the people of Fort Loudoun were overwhelmed in a surprise attack by the Cherokee in retaliation for other injustices previously perpetrated by the British.

“It was interesting to try to depict the mood of the Fort each year for the five years of its life, especially knowing in advance how the story was going to turn out,” Smith says about Cherokee Vengeance.

Smith, a resident of Pulaski, Virginia is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. He holds a BFA from the University of Tennessee, an MA from Syracuse University and a MFA from the University of Hartford. He is available for commissions and portraits. To see more of Smith’s work, visit www.kensmithhistoricalart.com.

For more information about Fort Loudoun State Park or to purchase prints, call Fort Loudoun State Historic Area (432-884-6217), or to see more of Smith’s work, visit www.kensmithhistoricalart.com.

For The Second Year In A Row, Ken Smith Wins Coast Guard Art Program Award

A Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) is ready for a confrontation, and the viewer of this new painting by Ken Smith is happy to witness this action from in front of the canvas, and not from the business end of the M-4 carbine rifle.

This MSST team from St. Marys, Georgia is shown securing an area of the port as an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter prepares to drop crew members onto a tanker to determine whether the vessel is engaged in illegal activity or otherwise poses a threat.

MSST: Sighting Down Threats recently received the Coast Guard Art Program’s (COGAP) coveted George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence during a special reception at the Salmagundi Club in New York City.

Smith was one of 28 COGAP artists whose works were juried into the U.S. Coast Guard’s permanent collection in 2010. This year, 41 paintings were admitted into the collection, with one painting receiving the George Gray award. Smith’s painting, Air Station Savannah, received the award in 2009.

“My paintings generally tend toward military subject matter, so I was naturally attracted to the MSSTs and their anti-terrorism mission,” said Smith. “In discussing their work, the team’s no-nonsense attitude really appealed to my sense of drama and of course to the Coast Guard’s motto, Semper Paratus.”

The George Gray Award is named after one of the co-founders of COGAP. Gray was an artist for more than seven decades and served as the chairman of COGAP for over 20 years. The Coast Guard Art Program uses visual arts to communicate the history and the current life of this branch of military service. The collection, which includes over 1,800 works, is shown at galleries, museums, and Coast Guard bases, as well as at other U.S. government locations both at home and abroad. To learn more about the United States Coast Guard Art Program, visit http://www.uscg.mil/community/Art_Program.asp.

MSST: Sighting Down Threats will be displayed through August 12 at the Federal Hall National Memorial in New York City as part of the Coast Guard Art Program exhibit, titled “Underway with the Coast Guard: Observations in Art.” The memorial is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The memorial is closed on weekends.

Smith, a resident of Pulaski, Virginia is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. He holds a BFA from the University of Tennessee, an MA from Syracuse University and a MFA from the University of Hartford. He is available for commissions and portraits. To see more of Smith’s work, visit www.kensmithhistoricalart.com.