Gary Smith's "The Poisoned Tree"

In Pursuit of a True and Distinct Mormon Art

Gary Smith’s The Poisoned Tree, 1967, oil on canvas

In 1967 Spencer W. Kimball, then an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, called on faithful and active artists within the Church to reveal their “inspired hearts and talented fingers” to “give life and feeling and true perspective to a subject so worthy.” That same year Gary Ernes…