Art reveals the world to us in new ways. David and Art is KWBU's weekly feature focusing on art.
The module is hosted by David Smith, an American historian with broad interests in his field. He’s been at Baylor University since 2002 teaching classes in American history, military history, and cultural history. For eight years he wrote an arts and culture column for the Waco Tribune-Herald, and his writings on history, art, and culture have appeared in other newspapers from the Wall Street Journal to the Dallas Morning News.
The very first record he remembers listening to when he was little was Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic’s recording of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and that set him on a lifelong path of loving music and the arts. He’s loved history for almost as long, and finally saw them come together in his career. He believes that history illuminates the arts and the arts illuminate history—that they co-exist and are best understood together.
Follow David on Twitter @DavidASmith12
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In today’s episode of David and Art, revisiting the Paris art show that defined an era—and left its mark on everything from jewelry to architecture. Here’s your host, David Smith. -
Host David Smith dives into a time when art supplies flew off the shelves and creativity found a new place at home.
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Vincent Price at Sears?In 1962, horror icon Vincent Price was selling fine art at the Oak Brook Sears. Thanks to a twist involving The Ten Commandments and a TV quiz show, he became the face of affordable art in suburbia.
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For decades, Sears was best known for catalogs, clothes, and household goods. But in the early 1960s, the company launched an unexpected experiment—selling original works of art by masters like Chagall, Picasso, and Rembrandt in its stores. Shoppers packed the galleries, eager to take home fine art with the same ease as a new appliance. This segment looks back at Sears’ short-lived but remarkable effort to bring high art into everyday American life.
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What makes storytelling so powerful? Unlike the stereotype of a dry lecture, storytelling is one of humanity’s oldest art forms—capable of sparking imagination and transforming the way we experience information. Actor Daveed Diggs, best known for his Tony-winning role in Hamilton, says art was the key that made American history finally feel like his story. In this segment, we explore how the power of storytelling—and art more broadly—can reshape the way we engage with history, learning, and the world around us.
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Sometimes art inspires more art. Composer Paul Hindemith found that spark in the paintings of Matthias Grünewald, creating Mathis der Maler—a piece that became both a symphony and an opera. It’s music that wrestles with creativity, politics, and the fight for artistic freedom in the shadow of Nazi Germany.
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This week on David and Art, David Smith looks at how artists and writers have portrayed war—not just the battles, but the people living through them.
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This week on David and Art, David Smith looks at how artists use their work to reveal scarcity in dignity, opportunity, and connection.
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Most classic art celebrates abundance. This week, David explores work born of something else.
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On this weeks edition of David and Art, host David Smith muses on a particular example of human inspiration behind surrealist art.
