Practice Beyond the Classroom: “Open to the Public” Lecture with Harold Smith

What happens to an artist’s practice when teaching, making, writing, mentoring, and participating in a creative community all become part of the same life?

For the August installment of the Kansas City Artists Coalition’s “Open to the Public” Lecture Series, artist and educator Harold Smith joined us for Practice Beyond the Classroom: Art as Storytelling, exploring the relationship between arts education, creative practice, and storytelling.

If you missed the lecture in person, the full recording is now available on KCAC’s YouTube channel.

Harold begins by looking at artists whose work provides different examples of how a creative practice can develop alongside the rest of a person’s life. Among them is Alma Thomas, who taught art for 35 years before retiring in 1960 and entering a new period in her own artistic career. From there, the lecture moves through artists including Joan Brown, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Frida Kahlo, and Frederick James Brown to consider artwork as a record of individual experience, history, and change. Practice Beyond the Classroom … Practice Beyond the Classroom …

The second half of the lecture turns toward Harold’s own experiences as both an educator and working artist. He shares examples of supporting former students and welcoming young artists into his studio, alongside projects that have extended his practice into writing, publishing, and filmmaking. From 2015–2019, he published UrbanKore, an online magazine focused on artists from Kansas City’s urban core, and he has created documentaries about local artists including Natasha Ria, Glenn North, and Sonie Ruffin. Practice Beyond the Classroom …

Painting remains another part of that story. Harold describes his creative practice as “storytelling using art,” moving through works connected to his family, neighborhood, personal experiences, and observations of everyday life. Practice Beyond the Classroom … His Everyday Blackness series, for example, focuses on the ordinary and routine lives of Black people, while other works draw from family photographs, trips to the barbershop, Friday nights with friends, and moments of solitude. Practice Beyond the Classroom …

Even the materials become part of the chronology. Harold discusses periods when financial limitations led him to paint on discarded cabinet doors and cardboard, as well as incorporating newspapers saved from a school that was throwing them away. Practice Beyond the Classroom …

That range of experience is also part of what KCAC’s “Open to the Public” Lecture Series is intended to make room for. Each month, we invite artists, educators, academics, and cultural workers to share the ideas, practices, histories, and experiences connected to their work. The series is free and open to everyone because continued learning and conversation around creative practice should have as few barriers as possible.

If you weren’t able to join us in August—or want to return to the conversation—the full recording of Harold Smith’s Practice Beyond the Classroom: Art as Storytelling is now available on KCAC’s YouTube channel.