BIO

Henry Smith is an artist, designer, and educator. Born and raised in the Midwest, he is currently based in Austin, Texas. Since 2019 he has served as the custodian of the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type collection (the RRK)—a working archive of 19th century letterpress type and equipment housed in the Department of Design at the University of Texas at Austin.

Smith received his BFA in Studio Art from UT Austin in Spring 2017. For over 10 years Smith has maintained a steady practice as a freelance printer, designer, and fabricator in addition to his work in education. This has also coincided with ongoing collaborative work to organize exhibitions and events in the Austin community and beyond. Smith’s work is heavily focused in graphic design, typography, and printmaking, and the RRK collection has become embedded as a core aspect of his research and practice.

STATEMENT

Working at an intersection of many media, my practice is based in crafting communal spaces. Focused primarily in print, sculpture, and social practice, I seek to explore channels and venues of community-building and information exchange. Overall, my work often manifests in the organization of experiences and events. Images and objects are the means of cultivating and energizing these environments. This also directly relates to my work in education, involving the design of creative spaces and curricula which utilizes the resources present. Typography and the conventions of graphic design are often the instruments of these experiments.