Poetry in motion
'Voices Inside My Head' combines art with words for off-the-couch experience

Poet Larry Bourland, left, and artist Tad Smith pose on the stairs leading to the loft at Create Art and Tea. The two, along with 26 other poets, are collaborating on a new augmented-reality exhibit, "Voices Inside My Head." The show will be up the entire month of February with an opening reception Feb. 7. / Photo by Missy Votel
Local artist Tad Smith is the first to tell you he does not make “couch art.” In fact, he jokes that anyone who hangs his bold, black-and-white abstract portraits over a couch would be taking a bit of a fashion risk.
“My art doesn’t look good hanging over a couch,” he said. “And I’m fine with that.”
He means no disrespect to art that makes for good decor, but Smith said the goal of his art is to push the envelope. To get people off the couch and into their heads. Or in the case of his latest interactive show, “Voices Inside My Head,” into the heads of others.
“Good art is like a bridge,” he said. “The artist shouldn’t provide all the creativity, nor should the audience provide all the answers. They should meet half-way. I want the audience to interact with the art. I don’t want them to be passive.”
Smith, who moved to Durango in 2017 from Phoenix, where he owned a gallery among other things, is doing exactly that with this latest show, on display starting Feb. 1 at Create Art and Tea. He describes the show as a fully immersive experience that incorporates his black-and-white, hand-drawn portraits with poetry and augmented reality. And yes, there are even QR codes for the technologically advanced or techno curious.
“I’ve been doing augmented art for a while, but I thought, ‘What’s the next level?’” Smith said.
And while words like “augmented reality” and “fully immersive” may sound advanced to the average art consumer, the premise is simple. Walk up to one of the portraits, scan the QR code with your phone (provided it is from the last decade or so) and hear a poet recite an original work pertaining to the portrait. (There will also be cool 3-D graphics on the screen to accompany the poetry, because that is Smith’s forte.)
Smith said he got the idea for the show after attending a similar show in Las Vegas and watching others from New York and London on YouTube.
“That’s what inspired me,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘How the heck are they doing that?’” Well, like many of us hoping to solve life’s great mysteries, he turned to the rabbit hole of YouTube University. After extensive watching, er, “research,” and the help of the Adobe suite of graphics programs, he was able to virtually intertwine his art with words and music – poetry in motion if you will.
Twenty-seven poets offered up their words for the show, which hosts an opening reception Fri., Feb. 7, from 5-7:30 p.m. While most of the poets are local, there are a few from as far away as Tucson, Los Angeles and even Paris, according to “poetry wrangler” Larry Bourland.
About five months ago, Smith approached Bourland, who hosts the monthly open mic poetry nights at Create (the fourth Thursday of the month, fyi) about working with him on the show. At the time, Smith had one of his works, “The Mystic,” on display at the Durango Arts Center.
“When he approached me, I found it to be an interesting concept,” recalls Bourland. “I told him I’d do it only if I could do a poem for ‘The Mystic.’’’
Although it wasn’t planned to be part of the show, Smith acquiesced and said he’d include “The Mystic” for Bourland. From there, Bourland threw the idea out to “his family” of poets and said every hand in the room went up to participate. From there, the number was whittled to 27 poets reciting their work for 43 of Smith’s portraits.
“It’s some of the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever heard attached to these portraits,” he said. “The poets shared their most intimate thoughts and made these portraits come alive. It’s a conglomeration of so many different thoughts. That’s the beauty of this.”
In addition to the recorded poetry readings, Smith will also be getting the audience in on the action with what he calls “black out” poetry (think those poetry refrigerator magnets.)
“I’m going to have a bunch of used books, and people can circle a few words on a page and black out the rest and make their own poem,” he said.
Smith and Bourland said they believe this to be the first if not one of the first augmented-reality shows in Durango.
“This is a great intro to abstract art,” said Bourland. “I can’t wait for it to hit Paris.”
He is only partially joking. The two have visions of taking the show on the road – although maybe not quite so far afield, say, Phoenix, Denver or Santa Fe to start.
Which, after all, comes back to Smith’s mission as an artist.
“I’m not doing art to make money,” he said. “I’m doing it to get the audience engaged with art, and to enjoy it. I’m trying to make it interesting and involve as many people as I can. I’m just thinking outside the box.”
To think outside the box for yourself, check out “Voices Inside My Head” upstairs in Create Art and Tea throughout the month of February. (And while you’re there, be sure to sample owner Caprice Fox’s delicious homemade scones, teas and other locally made artwares.) A portion of sales from the exhibit will go to Create’s nonprofit Art Guild. Create is open daily from 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. at 1015 Main Ave.

"Tangle," a portrait by Tad Smith, made using acrylic Gesso paint and oil paint pigment sticks. The QR code takes viewers to an accompanying augmented reality poetry montage. / Courtesy photo