Gary Smaby: VC Turns Artist

I don't know too many people as remarkable as Gary Smaby. And he proved it again last night. More than 100 of Gary's friends were invited to an artist's reception to kick off the showing of his art at the Douglas-Baker Gallery in downtown Minneapolis.
It's a project, I learned, that Gary's been actively engaged in for about two years now. Gorgeous, striking work...as you can see.

The story of Gary's career goes like this: he basically spent his 20s as an entrepreneur, his 30s as a technology analyst (starting with Piper Jaffray) and supercomputer consultant, his 40s as a VC, and in his 50s, he's continued as a VC and also become an academic of sorts -- and, yes, now an artist. As I said, remarkable. I've known him since 1982, respect him highly, and continue to be amazed at his talents.

The story of how he became an artist is really not so surprising when you read the story on his blog. He had some remarkable parents, too, and his mother was an artist.

In his VC life, Gary is part of Minneapolis-based Quatris Fund. Lately, he's also been serving as VC-in-Residence at the Carlson School of Management's Ventures Enterprise MBA program at the University of Minnesota. You can read more about Gary here in his bio. He's shown in my first photo taken last evening explaining the techniques he uses in his print making.

Congratulations, Gary. You give VCs a good name! I would love to hang one of those beauties in my house -- soon as my next venture pays off, that is... :-)

Tags: Gary Smaby, VC, Minneapolis