Harold Smith

Harold Smith

Harold Smith is an educator and multimedia artist who lives and works in the Kansas City area. Most of his work is focused on his experience within the American black experience.

Artist to Watch: Clarissa Knighten

Sometimes, art serves as a living metaphor for the life of the artist, a physical embodiment of his or her life story. “Lady in Satin,” the last album released by Billie Holiday during her lifetime, contains an exhilaratingly painful rendition of “You’ve Changed.”

Honors: Vivian Wilson Bluett

Honors: Vivian Wilson Bluett

“I was terrified. I was nervous and anxious about the details. As nervous and anxious as I was, I wasn’t going to turn down the project. I felt like I had a responsibility to the community to give a visual representation of our struggle,” said Vivian Wilson Bluett.

Arts News: Jazz Age Lives on at Lonnie’s Reno Club

Sometimes, it seems that history is made when ingenuity, adversity and art intersect. At the beginning of the 1930s, during the early years of the Great Depression, Kansas City continued to work. Thomas Pendergast, the legendary mayor/mobster, allowed jazz clubs to openly sell alcohol despite prohibition. Kansas City became known as “Paris of the Plains.” […]