Harry Smith Archives

05/28/2026

Harry’s Cosmic Collage series continues tomorrow (5/29) at the !

Celebrate Harry Smith’s (1923–1991) birthday and the closing weekend of Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith, on view at the Philosophical Research Society, with a special guided viewing at the Getty Research Institute of material by the artist, musicologist, filmmaker, and esoteric icon. Through objects from the Getty Research Institute’s collection, including Smith’s paper airplanes, tarot cards, pop-up books, and string figures, exhibition curator will share insights into Smith’s experimental pursuits and radical nonconformity that has inspired bohemians and artists for generations.
The celebration continues with drop-in art-making stations inspired by Smith’s whimsical personal collection of paper airplanes.

🎟️ RSVP at link in bio! 🎟️

And don’t forget to join us at Zebulon later in the evening for our Anthology of American Folk Music Tribute Concert at . 🎶 🎻🪊🪕

05/24/2026

In celebration of ’s 85th birthday, allow us to present an anecdote that details the night that Bob Dylan ALMOST met Harry Smith, as excerpted in “Cosmic Scholar”, John Szwed’s essential biography on Smith.
And for those in the LA area, don’t forget to join us on Harry’s birthday, May 29th at to pay tribute to his Anthology of American Folk Music - a compilation that served as great inspiration for Bob Dylan and many, many others.

05/13/2026

Southern California! Join us for a very special day at the Getty!

Celebrate Harry Smith’s (1923–1991) birthday on May 29th with a special guided viewing at the Getty Research Institute of material by the artist, musicologist, filmmaker, and esoteric icon. Through objects from the Getty Research Institute’s collection, including Smith’s paper airplanes, tarot cards, pop-up books, and string figures, exhibition curator Rani Singh will share insights into Smith’s experimental pursuits and radical nonconformity that has inspired bohemians and artists for generations.

The celebration continues with drop-in art-making stations inspired by Smith’s whimsical personal collection of paper airplanes.

Click the link below to sign up before it's too late!

A guided viewing of archival material and paper airplane-making activity in honor of the artist’s birthday

05/07/2026

Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions. Tomorrow night! 7:30 pm 🌟💎💥🧿🪅📷💡⏳

04/27/2026

Tickets are now live for our May 21st event, Adam Green Explains Harry Smith + HEAVEN & EARTH MAGIC (1962)!

Presented by the Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House, The Harry Smith Archives, and Los Angeles Filmforum, this special event in “The Cosmic Collage of Harry Smith” series features artistic polymath Adam Green exploring the esoteric legacy of legendary experimentalist Harry Smith. The evening begins with a richly illustrated presentation by Green, a musician, artist, and filmmaker. Using curated slides and video, Green will delve into the occult foundations of Smith’s creative output, tracing the influences of alchemy, Kabbalah, hermetic philosophy, and symbolic systems. The talk treats Smith’s work as a unified field of inquiry, examining how his syncretic approach functioned as an alchemical process designed to transform human perception. Green will also discuss Smith’s methodology in the context of PRS founder Manly P. Hall and share how these visionary ideas have informed his own contemporary practice.

The presentation concludes with an audience Q&A followed by a screening of Smith’s landmark experimental masterpiece, “Heaven & Earth Magic” (1957-1962). A cornerstone of avant-garde cinema, the 66-minute film is a dense, hand-animated cosmology constructed from cut-out imagery, occult diagrams, and found materials. Eschewing traditional narrative, the film unfolds through ritualistic transformations and surreal tableaux that oscillate between the sacred and the absurd. It offers an associative, initiatory experience, inviting the audience to move through its symbols rather than simply decode them.

Ticket link in bio or at PRS.org

Photo of Adam credit
Color image by
Film stills from HEAVEN AND EARTH MAGIC
Dir. Harry Smith, 1957-1962

04/20/2026

If you weren't able to get tickets to the opening night of our series with this Saturday, don't fret! There are many more Harry-centric events to come!

Join us at the Philosophical Research Society for a twofer on Thursday, May 7th!

The evening begins with the exhibition opening of Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith in the Hansell Gallery and finishes with Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions. The latter will be a riveting panel discussion that focuses on Harry's occult leanings w/ David Orr, William Kiesel, Jessica Hundley, and Chuck Stein.

Tickets are available here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brain-drawings-the-art-of-harry-smith-exhibition-opening-reception-tickets-1987021274120?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mind-maps-exploring-harry-smiths-hermetic-allusions-panel-discussion-tickets-1987020936109?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/10/2026

LOS ANGELES!

OPENING NIGHT SATURDAY APRIL 25!

In collaboration with The Philosophical Research Society, join us for the launch of THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH (April 25 – May 31), a multi-venue celebration of the boundless, unruly imagination of artist, filmmaker, folklorist, and self-described alchemist of culture, Harry Everett Smith.

We open on 4/25 with HARRY SMITH’S ALCHEMICAL ABSTRACTIONS — featuring an immersive presentation led by Harry Smith scholar and Harry Smith Archives director Rani Singh, weaving together rare images and footage from Smith’s life and work.

The night culminates in a program of Smith’s films, including rarely seen works such as the UNTITLED SEMINOLE PATCHWORK FILM (1965-1966), archival footage offering a rare glimpse of Smith himself, and EARLY ABSTRACTIONS (1946–1957) presented in full with live musical accompaniment by Devendra Banhart and friends Dory Bavarsky, Griffin Kisner, Dave Longstreth, and John Moods who will perform an original score in dialogue with Smith’s landmark work.

A singular figure of the American avant-garde, Smith moved fluidly between disciplines, assembling a body of work that resists containment—from visionary abstract cinema to his groundbreaking Anthology of American Folk Music. Deeply engaged with mysticism, folklore, and systems of hidden knowledge, Smith approached art as a form of spiritual inquiry—where sound, image, and pattern become tools for re-enchanting the world.

Spanning film screenings, live performances, panels, an exhibition, and more at PRS, The Getty Research Institute, Zebulon, 2220 Arts + Archives, and online, THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH traces an expansive creative universe where disciplines dissolve and art becomes a bridge between the material and the unseen.

Full series lineup:

•4/25 — OPENING NIGHT!: Harry Smith’s Alchemical Abstractions featuring EARLY ABSTRACTIONS (1939–56) screening w/ live performance by Devendra Banhart Devendra Banhart & Friends— co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum

•5/7 — Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith— Exhibition Opening at The Philosophical Research Society's Hansell Gallery�

•5/7 — Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions – Panel Discussion w/ David Orr, William Kiesel, Jessica Hundley, and Chuck Stein

•5/21 — Adam Green Explains Harry Smith + HEAVEN & EARTH MAGIC (1957) screening — Adam Green in person! — co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum

•5/24 — Harry Smith’s Anthology as a Magical Instrument presented by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology (Online Presentation)

•5/29 — Show & Tell: Harry Smith Archive at the Research Institute

•5/29 — Celebration of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music at Zebulon

•5/31 — MAHAGONNY (1980) screening at 2220 Arts + Archives — co-presented by 7th House, Los Angeles Filmforum, and 2220 Arts + Archives

Visit prs.org for info & tickets. Tickets for first three events on sale now — full series event listings posting shortly!

(Flyer by Megan Whitmarsh. All Harry Smith images courtesy of Harry Smith Archives.)