Sarah Bagwell Smith

Sarah Bagwell Smith

Sarah Bagwell Smith, a longtime member of the Charlottesville art community, died of pneumonia on Friday, November 13, 2009, at the Martha Jefferson Hospital. She was 91.

Sarah was born in 1918, at Mount Prospect, Onancock, Virginia and grew up on the Eastern Shore, where her wide interests in science, nature, and the arts developed. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1939 with an A.B. in biology and art and then pursued post-graduate studies in biology, chemistry, and bacteriology at what is now Virginia Tech. Afterwards she began work towards a Master's Degree in biology at Johns Hopkins University. As the United States entered World War II, her future husband, the late Dr. Harry L. Smith Jr., was beginning his practice in Charlottesville, and he urged her to move back to Virginia and marry him.

Sarah taught biology and chemistry at St. Anne's School, but with the arrival of her children, she was finally free to begin her long career in the arts. Her first love was sculpture. Over the years she worked in and experimented with many methods and media: plastics, metals, resins, lead, paper, fiberglass, car body putty and epoxy, clay, cement, stone, terra cotta, and wood. She was an accomplished welder, and took an additional class in arc welding while in her eighties. She produced many busts, including several of Thomas Jefferson and an oversized bust of a prominent attorney, A.J. Priest, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia and a Principal of a major New York law firm. It was modeled from photographs, cast in bronze, and acquired by his former law firm. Sarah also produced several other busts as studies for larger pieces.

Her many commissioned works include a large welded iron piece "Chief Priest, Variation # 2" for a Pennsylvania physician, and the figures of Mary and Joseph which adorn the rood beam in Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Those figures were commissioned by the well-known local architect Milton Grigg. Sarah also created and cast a bronze bas-relief, "Mary's Garden," for her alma mater, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, in Lynchburg; forged a welded steel crucifix for The Church of The Ascension in Virginia Beach; sculpted a bronze bas-relief portrait for the Department of Surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center; designed the bas-relief seal of the City of Charlottesville for the Public Works Building exterior facade; and made a small sculpture, "Minute Men," for the town of Culpeper. She was a finalist in the Richmond Police Memorial Competition for a life-size sculpture. Her works can be found in public and private collections, including the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Randolph College in Lynchburg, and Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.

Widowed in 1973, Sarah enjoyed teaching at the Virginia Art Institute in Charlottesville, and many of her students have since become established artists. She also taught through the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Virginia. She was chosen as a member of the Abingdon Square Painters of New York City and of the Tri-State Sculptors, and was included in the Marquis Who's Who of American Women. Sarah was pleased to be chosen for the first display of sculptures shown in Charlottesville's Art In Place program with a large fiberglass piece entitled "Arizona." Throughout her long career, Sarah's curiosity and her enthusiastic experimentation with new and unusual media led to much artistic growth. She took classes with many prominent artists from South Carolina to New York, including Theresa Pollack, and she exhibited her work in many individual and group shows in Virginia and North Carolina, also the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, and New York City.

Sarah's most recent show, "Retrospective: Selected Works, 1959 - 2009," took place in the main gallery of the McGuffey Art Center in May of 2009, showcasing many of her watercolors, prints, drawings, and sculptures, most notably a life-size, 2 figure bronze sculpture entitled "Gamboling." Sarah was a member of the McGuffey Art Center from its inception in 1973, working in her studio there for about a decade, and returning to a studio again for a year when she was 84. During the earlier period, she could be seen riding her moped to the art center on weekdays, while friends were amused to see her motorcycle helmet showing up amongst the ladies' coats at the occasional weekend party. Sarah's concern for the environment was always with her; she went green long before most. Sarah was also an ardent gardener and belonged to the Rivanna Garden Club, serving as president for one term.

An early achievement in Sarah's career was the design and patenting of an elevated toilet seat, which she created for an arthritic family member. It is typical of Sarah's high standards and strong character that she refused to launch the product commercially when potential manufacturers sought to increase sales by making the seat with built-in obsolescence. Sarah strove for perfection and soundness in everything she created, and was always mindful of safety and permanence.

Sarah was preceded in death by her parents, Mary Eugenia Taylor Bagwell and Isaiah William Bagwell II; her husband, Dr. Harry LeCato Smith Jr.; and her brother, Isaiah William Bagwell III.

She is survived by her children, Harry L. Smith III and his wife, Jacqueline, of Charlottesville, Douglass Smith of Sandy Hook, Virginia, and Susan Haberly and her husband, David, of Keswick, Virginia; and by her sister-in-law, Anne Bagwell of Onancock, Virginia. She is also survived by her nieces and nephew, Linda Custis and her husband, Henry, of Onancock, Virginia, Isaiah William Bagwell IV and his wife Claudia, of Onancock, Virginia, and Jean Styer and her husband, Bruce, of Glen Allen, Virginia. Her grandchildren are Sarah Smith and her husband, Joshua Grinnel, of Alexandria, Virginia; Jacqueline Young and Renita Young of Baltimore, Maryland; Caroline and her husband, Matthew Hirst, of Charlottesville, Virginia; Deborah Walling and Kenneth Weber of Charlestown, Pennsylvania; Melinda and her husband, John Pasquale Sr. of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania; Duncan Haberly and Jennifer Nagaj of San Francisco, California; and Anne Baker and her husband, Shawn, of Burlington, North Carolina. Sarah was also delighted to have 10 great-grandchildren, and was very fond of her many cousins. Sarah's artist friends were a large part of her life, and her family is especially grateful to one of those friends, Randall Henniker of Richmond, Virginia for his help and friendship through the years.

A generous contributor to many charities, Sarah will be remembered for her willingness to help others. She will also be remembered for her impact on other artists, as a naturally gifted teacher, a willing mentor, and a much-revered role model. Her friends, family, and colleagues will greatly miss her sharp intelligence, her encyclopedic knowledge of both art and science, her sage counsel, and her quick wit.

Donations may be made in Sarah's memory to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, online at www.cbf.org or by mail at The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21405, or to the McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second Street NW, Charlottesville, VA 22902.

At Sarah's request and in keeping with her priorities in life, her body was donated to science. A celebration of her life will be held for her family and friends at McGuffey Art Center 1 p.m. Sunday, December 6, 2009.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.