Honoring Your Call: Durrell Smith

DURRELL SMITH—ARTIST, TEACHER, HUNTER, DOG TRAINER, CREATOR OF MINORITY OUTDOOR ALLIANCE, AND FOUNDER OF THE GUN DOG NOTEBOOK. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM ON OUR JOURNEY TO THE SOUTHEAST TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS PATH OF HONORING HIS TRUE PASSIONS, NAVIGATING HIS WAY THROUGH LIFE, AND PURSUING WHAT MEANS THE MOST TO HIM.

I’m quite sure that my wife had no clue what I was getting us into the day I sat her down at my house and shared my dreams and passion for bird dogs with her. I’ll never forget that day. We were still dating, and I had a bachelor pad in Clayton County.

My wife, Ashley, and I actually met in middle school. I didn’t tell her that I liked her until we were 26, but I liked her ever since we were 12 years old. I’m sharing that context because I know for a fact that she wasn’t surprised when I shared my goals and vision for my art career because …quite honestly…I’ve always been an art kid. I’ve been producing art since I could pick up a pencil. When I was in a “time out,” I would and draw and trace my toys while I sat in the corner. Ashley often remarks fondly about how she would always see me skateboarding to the art building at our middle school. The gift of being able to make art has always jumped out of me. And, luckily I had a mother who recognized it early on and ensured that I was in classes and environments that honed and nourished that which came natural to me.

Although I know Ashley wasn’t surprised when I shared my art dreams with her, I don’t think she was expecting the bird dog dream. One weekend when we were still boyfriend and girlfriend, she came over for dinner. I told her that I wanted to grill out for her. She loves my grilled food (pats self on chest). During our dinner, I told her all about my big bird dog dreams and I showed her a picture I’d stashed in my Gun Dog Notebook of Neal Carter Jr. from a Garden and Gun article. She sat there and smiled vividly, even though I knew she had no clue what I was talking about. But that’s my wife…supportive and happy as always. I showed her the magazine and told her my goals. She responded, “OK, go for it! Make something out of it! If you plan to have all these dogs they better pay for themselves.” So, I picked up a composition notebook and wrote out all of my goals and dreams, and that’s how the Gun Dog Notebook was born.

You see, when I was growing up…I used to always see my friends take a few days off from school to go hunting with their dads and grandads. You gotta think about how cool that sounded to me as a child. Turn on your child brain for a second here. “I was like wait a minute…you guys get to take days off from school to go be outdoors…and your parents WANT you to do that…not only do they WANT you to do that…they do it WITH you!” My child mind was blown and that’s when the seeds of my hunting dreams began to grow.

It’s funny how life works though…I can’t ever say that life doesn’t give you exactly what you need. The outdoors and art have always been a part of who I am. When I was a kid, I would play outside in my grandparents’ backyard, in a space I called “The Garden of Eden.” I would just explore and collect found objects… and like any kid, I definitely (to my mother’s chagrin) would capture lightning bugs, frogs, snakes, worms…you name it. If it could be caught, I caught it.

Growing older, I continued to matriculate through formal and academic art training, and I started incorporating the objects that I would find outside into my art. I look back sometimes at young me playing in “The Garden of Eden.” Young Durrell informs so much of who I am today. I’m just a grown- up who likes to play in God’s backyard. I train bird dogs. I hunt. I fish and I just walk around in the fresh air. I collect objects and memories. And, now I write and make art about them.

I am not sure that most people would readily see a marriage between art and gun dogs. However, the synergy of my pursuits has created such a fulfilling and exciting path. Not only have I created that for myself, but I’ve created a new tradition, and now my son gets to be the kid that I check out of school for a few days to go and create some memories outdoors, with dogs that we’ve raised, bred, and trained. There is no greater feeling that the art of it all. Somehow, moving into the future, I hope to share these passions through our most recent endeavor, our nonprofit, the Minority Outdoor Alliance. The goal is the follow up on my successes, and revisit the issues of diversity and inclusion in the outdoors, particularly in my experience, and help break down the barriers to entry. Frankly, I’d like the see other minority men and women experience the vast expanses of great, wild places just as the great hunting guides and field trialers have enjoyed them for so many decades before. Through my endeavors, I know that I can contribute to making the outdoors available to everyone, in the name of conservation and an active lifestyle.

Thank you to my wife for encouraging me to (as she would say), “honor my call.” My wife is pretty wise and I’m even wiser for marrying her.

“Honor your call and you’ll never go wrong.” – Ashley Eady Smith