2026 Artist-in-Residence: Jed Smalley
Jed Smalley’s early years were spent demonstrating a complete disregard for the utility of formal education. That said, in the spirit of self-contradiction, he pursued a BFA at Parson’s School of Design, an MFA from Yale University and his MD degree from State University of New York.

 Sculpture and painting seemed to have awakened an inquisitive nature more willing to pursue formal education. While at Parson’s, artists like Ron Bladen and Clement Meadmore were influences. Later at Yale, David VonSchlegel and Richard Serra were personal heroes.                        

 Jed left Yale to enter the art scene in New York as a large-scale sculptor but wound up losing confidence in the importance and meaning of art. He returned to Yale as a pre-med student and then earned MD degree from State University of New York Medical School. In the years that followed, while practicing medicine, he remained devoted to making art, mostly paintings while remaining averse to showing his work.

For the last fourteen years his work has focused on large paintings using landscape as a scaffold for abstract concerns. The paintings are dripped from varied heights onto canvas or wood on the floor. Multiple layers accumulate to develop imagery relating to the Fibonacci Sequence and Divine Proportion.

 He has retired from medical practice now for fourteen years and shows his work again with the Maryland Federation of Art, Yoiks Gallery, Hamilton Gallery in Maryland, The Painting Center Gallery in New York, and Zenith Gallery in Washington DC.

Website: Smalley Gallery

2026 Sculptor-in-Residence: Justin Roberts
Justin Roberts started as an inspiring chef & developed what he calls the art of listening. This led him to a road less traveled. His willow sculpting career began with the idea of making his child’s Easter basket from willow saplings, which he then replanted to grow back into a tree. Others noticed his craftsmanship, which directed him to an apprenticeship under master craftsman, George Beard, to learn the art of willow furniture.

Justin has been featured as a speaker for the Furniture Society of America and the National Basketry Organization. He's also featured in Southern Living Magazine with several TV series. His eco-centric philosophy has now become creative play and has resulted in artist residencies and installations at Bernheim Forest Arboretum in Clermont, KY, Josephine Sculpture Park in Frankfort, KY, and Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, NJ. Whether it’s working with some of the top event planners to interior designers, his work is now spread out across the United States and was recently published as one of 31 contemporary artists in the Netherlands textbook, Maak Je Eigen Buitenkunst. As Justin enters year 15 of “playing with sticks,” he is honored to be the Sculptor-in-Residence at Ladew. To him, it fulfills the dream of one of his long-time mentors, Paul Sasso, a Professor Emeritus from the Art Department at Murray State University. Before Justin’s site visit to Ladew, Paul told him, “Your whole life will make sense when you go to Ladew.”  

Website: Walk The Willow with Justin Roberts