Stan Smokler was born in New York City in 1944. The artist completed his undergraduate degree in studio art at the University of Pittsburgh. It was in that industrial city, visiting steel mills, that he developed an appreciation for fire and metal. Smokler completed his master of fine arts degree at Pratt Institute in 1975, and he continued to work in New York on his own sculpture as well as in art conservation and interior design. In 1999, he relocated to the Brandywine Valley. Throughout his career, Smokler participated in numerous workshops and residencies including Sir Anthony Caro’s Triangle Artists’ Workshop in 1985, Segovia Spain Workshop in 1986, and a Yaddo residency in 2011. Smokler participated in the Delaware Division of the Arts’ Artist in Residence program from 1996 to 1999, served on the Board of the Delaware Contemporary, and taught at the Delaware College of Art and Design from 1998 until his retirement in 2016.
Smokler began exhibiting early in his career, participating in groups shows at the Rizzoli International Gallery (New York), Salmagundi Club (New York), Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY), Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington), and the Delaware Contemporary (Wilmington). Numerous solo exhibitions have been presented at Kim Foster Gallery (New York) and Blue Streak Gallery (Wilmington, DE) as well as Albright College (Reading, PA), Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH), West Chester University (PA), and Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library (DE). Smokler’s sculptures can be found in public and corporate collections including Albright College, Dansko (West Grove, PA), and the Delaware Art Museum, among others.
In addition to an extensive career throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States, Smokler established his Marshall Bridge Workshop in 2004. The Workshop is an immersive training opportunity for artists of all levels interested in working with welded steel. Smokler has been praised for his supportive approach to teaching that nurtures artists at various stages in their careers.
