Harold Smith
Education
● M.A.T, Webster University, 1996
● B.S., Union College, 1985
● A.A., Kansas City Kansas Community College, 1983
Selected Exhibitions
• 2024 Dr. Blackenstein’s Blacktacular Black Shack of Arts and Sciences, Studios Inc, Kansas City
• 2024 Covers, Kansas City Missouri Public Library
• 2024 Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City
• 2023 Untitled, Habitat Gallery, Kansas City
• 2023 Let Me Tell You, Lawrence Arts Center
• 2023 Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City
• 2023 21c Hotel Museum, Kansas City
• 2022 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, H & R Block Artspace
• 2022 Insight, University of Nebraska-Omaha
• 2021 Who We Are (Group), Charlotte Street
• 2021 Testament (Group), Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
• 2021 All Things Being Equal: Selections from the Nerman Collection, KCAI GALLERY:
Center for Contemporary Practice
• 2021 The Reparations Exhibit, Natasha Ria Art Gallery
• 2020 Untitled (Collect Level), Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City (Group)
• 2020 Untitled, Charlotte Street Foundation Gallery, Kansas City (Group)
• 2020, True Colors, Carter Art Center, Kansas City (Group)
• 2020 El-Scari Harvey Art Gallery, Center for Spiritual Living, Kansas City (Individual)
• 2020 The Black Gaze, Stockdale Gallery, William Jewell College
• 2019 Can You See Me?, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City
• 2019 Purpose, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City (Individual)
• 2018, Cultural Legacy: What's Going On, Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Kansas City (Group)
• 2018 Louisiana Tricentennial Exhibition, Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans (Group)
• 2017/18 Black Space/Black Art, Traveling Exhibit, Kansas City (Group)
• 2017 Reflections of Monk III, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, (Group)
• 2016 Bear Witness, Johnson County Public Library, Shawnee Mission, (Group)
• 2016 Reflecting The Times, Box Gallery, Kansas City (Group)
• 2016 INSPIRED: 20 Years of African American Art , Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans,
(Group)
• 2015 Vernissage de Portraits de Harold Smith , Le Moulin du logis, Angouleme,France
• 2014 Colors of Life, Cognac Blues Passions, Cognac, France
• 2013 Convergence: Jazz and the Visual Arts, University of Maryland, David Driskell Center
(Traveling Group Exhibition)
• 2012 Reflections of Monk, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, (Group)
• 2011 Colors of Jazz, American Jazz Museum, Kansas City
Abstractumentaries:
● Natasha Portrait of an Urban Poet, 2011, screened at Westport Coffeehouse, Maysles Cinema (NYC)
● The Gospel According to Glenn North, 2017, screened at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Penn Valley Community College
● A Time To Sew: The Art of Sonie Ruffin, (in production)
Selected Writings:
● What Black Artists Want: A Manifesto, June 2021, KC Studio
● Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art Acquires “Kobe Urn” by KCAI Alum Roberto Lugo, March 2021, KC Studio
● Artist to Watch: Clarissa Knighten,March 2021, KC Studio
● Honors: Vivian Wilson Bluett, January 2021, KC Studio
● Arts News: Jazz Age Lives on at Lonnie’s Reno Club, January 2021, KC Studio
● “London Williams & Izsys Archer: In Truth, Black Angels,” Haw Contemporary ,January 2021, KC Studio
● “Sheila Pree Bright: #1960Now,” Outside FADS Building, Johnson County Community College, November 2020, KC Studio
● Kemper Museum Presents Dawoud Bey Photographs from the Bill and Christy Gautreaux Collection, November 2020, KC Studio
● “Real Black: A spectrum of the Black present,” UMKC Gallery of Art , October 2020, KC Studio
● “Kwanza Humphrey: The Human Experience,” Bunker Center for the Arts, September 2020, KC Studio
● The Challenges of Black Gallery Ownership in Kansas City, July 2020, KC Studio
● Honors: Emiel Cleaver, May 2020, KC Studio
● Building a More Open, Inclusive and Diverse Arts Scene, May 2020, KC Studio
● Artist Pages: 25 Kemper Watchers Pick 25 Favorites, September 2019, KC Studio, (Contributing Writer)
● Artist Pages: The Art of Black Hair Braiding, July 2019, KC Studio
● Glyneisha Johnson: Bo͝ ozəm, Haw Contemporary Crossroads, June 2019,
● Honors: Sheri Purpose Hall, May 2019, KC Studio
● Bold and Confrontational Display Reflects the Collective Consciousness of the Black Experience, April 2019, KC Studios
● An Interview with Jade Powers, November 2018, KC Studio
● Championing Kansas City’s Black Arts Scene, April 2018, KC Studio
● Artist Pages: Black Art in Kansas City, April 2018, KC Studio
● An Ode to True Black Manhood, March 2018, KC Studio
Selected Periodicals:
● Harold D. Smith, Jr.: Can You See Me?, Elisabeth Kirsch, www.kcstudio.com, September 2019
● Harold Smith: Art As a Platform for Activism, Alice Thorson, KC Studio (online), May 2017
● Artist Pages: The Art of Black Hair Braiding, July 2019, KC Studio
● Last Glance: Harold Smith, May 2015, KC Studio
● Le blues aux couleurs de la vie, Francoise Digel, Angouleme Sudquest, June 2014
● Harold Smith la sacra fiamma del jazz, JazzColors Magazine, 2013
● Music, Life, History Meld in Art, Alice Thorson, Kansas City Star, April 2011
● Jazzin’ Up Art, Marilyn Bellemore, Newport This Week, April 2006
● Interview with Harold Smith, VERGE (online), Meana Kasi, July 2001
● Intimate Images Explore Racism, Injustice, Kansas City Star, Caprice Stapley, June 2001
Books:
● McGarvey, E. & Weiss, J. (2013). 2pac v. Biggie : an illustrated history of rap's greatest battle. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press.
● Koppelman, S. & Franks, A. (2008). Collecting and the Internet : essays on the pursuit of old passions through new technologies. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.