Dean Smale earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Calgary and is an instructor in the Bachelor of Applied Arts - Art & Design program at Medicine Hat College. He has also instructed visual arts at College of the Rockies, Eastern Oregon University, and Red Deer College. In his professional practice, he has been an artist lecturer at various educational institutes and galleries. He has won various awards, exhibits frequently (solo and group exhibitions), has been published, and his work is in collections in the US and Canada. In 1996-97, he worked as a practicing artist in London England and in 1998 he participated in the Susan Kasen-Summers Workshop in Bantam, Connecticut, U.S. CBC National Television published a documentary on his work for their Artspots Series in 2005.