Harold Smith
Education
● M.A.T, Webster University, 1996
● B.S., Union College, 1985
● A.A., Kansas City Kansas Community College, 1983
Selected Exhibitions
• 2026 An Avoidant’s Guide to Love, Vulpes Bastille, Kansas City, Missouri (Group)
• 2026 Untitled, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
• 2026 Around the Way Folk II: Saints in Uncommon Places, Avila University, Kansas City
• 2025 Around the Way Folk : Saints in Uncommon Places, Mulvane Museum, Topeka Kansas
• 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 (Group)
• 2023 Untitled, Habitat Gallery, Kansas City
• 2023 Let Me Tell You, Lawrence Arts Center
• 2023 Summer Invitational, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City (Group)
• 2023 21c Hotel Museum, Kansas City
• 2022 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, H & R Block Artspace (Group)
• 2022 Insight, University of Nebraska-Omaha
• 2021 Who We Are (Group), Charlotte Street (Group)
• 2021 Testament (Group), Nelson Atkins Museum of Art (Group)
• 2021 All Things Being Equal: Selections from the Nerman Collection, KCAI GALLERY:
Center for Contemporary Practice (Group)
• 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 Press:
● 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.
Museum Collections
The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
The Mulvane Museum of Art
Major Collections
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
The University of Kansas
Awards
Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award (2021)
Pollock Krasner Grant (2022)
Residencies
MacDowell Residency (2022)
Art Omi Residency (2023)
Escape to Create Residency (2023)