Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Name	Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Birth date	1940
Birth place	St. Ignatius, Montana, U.S.
Nationality	Salish-Kootenai, American
Known for	Painting, printmaking, collage, installation

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a Salish-Kootenai visual artist and curator whose work spans painting, printmaking, collage, and installation, engaging with Indigenous identity, environmentalism, and contemporary politics. She has exhibited across museums, biennials, and galleries internationally and has been recognized by major institutions, universities, and foundations for her contributions to contemporary art and Native American cultural discourse.

Early life and education

Born in St. Ignatius, Montana, Smith was raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation and spent time in Missoula, Montana and Seattle, Washington environments shaped by Salish-Kootenai traditions and Catholic institutions. She attended the University of New Mexico and studied at regional art centers influenced by teachers connected to Native American Arts and Crafts Board initiatives and outreach by the Smithsonian Institution. Her formative years brought her into contact with regional artists and educators associated with the Institute of American Indian Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, and tribal cultural programs linked to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Artistic career

Smith began exhibiting during the 1970s in community galleries and tribal centers before entering national circuits of museums, universities, and biennials. Her career includes solo presentations at institutions like the Seattle Art Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, and collaborations with curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art networks. She participated in international exhibitions connected to the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Biennial, and the Sao Paulo Art Biennial, and her works entered collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and Tate Modern repositories. Smith has held teaching and residency positions at the University of Washington, Cornell University, and artist residencies affiliated with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Style, themes, and influences

Smith's visual language synthesizes painting, printmaking, assemblage, and found-object collage, drawing on Salish-Kootenai motifs, Pueblo art vocabularies, and cross-cultural modernist dialogues influenced by figures linked to Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art. Her themes address colonial histories, Indigenous sovereignty, environmental stewardship, and consumer culture, engaging referents connected to the Indian Removal Act era narratives, treaty disputes like the Fort Laramie Treaty, and contemporary political events that shape Indigenous life. Influences and interlocutors include Indigenous artists represented in the Institute of American Indian Arts lineage, contemporary painters shown at the Museum of Modern Art, printmakers exhibited by the Print Council of America, and activists associated with American Indian Movement networks. Smith’s practice also dialogues with curators and critics from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Endowment for the Arts, and university presses such as University of Washington Press and University of New Mexico Press.

Major works and exhibitions

Notable works and exhibitions include large-scale painted-collage compositions shown at the Seattle Art Museum and thematic installations presented at the National Museum of the American Indian and touring exhibitions organized by the Walker Art Center and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her pieces have been included in major curatorial surveys at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and international venues such as the Tate Modern and the National Gallery of Canada. She has contributed to group exhibitions alongside artists represented by galleries in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Mexico City, and participated in thematic shows organized by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Her prints and collages are preserved in collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and university museums including the Ackland Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Awards and recognition

Smith has received honors and fellowships from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and awards connected to the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. She has been recognized by academic institutions with honorary degrees and visiting professorships at universities including University of Oregon, University of Arizona, and Princeton University lecture series. Her work has been the subject of monographs published by university presses and exhibition catalogs produced by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the New Museum. Smith’s projects have been supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and regional arts councils such as the Washington State Arts Commission.

Legacy and impact

Smith’s interdisciplinary practice has influenced generations of Native American, Indigenous, and non-Indigenous artists, educators, and curators engaged with institutional representation and museum practice reforms at places like the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of the American Indian. Her work has contributed to dialogues in academic programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts, California Institute of the Arts, and numerous university art departments, while shaping exhibition-making at museums including the Seattle Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Through public commissions, festival presentations, and collaborations with cultural organizations such as the Native American Rights Fund and the First Peoples Fund, Smith has impacted arts advocacy, museum acquisitions policies, and cross-cultural curricula in museum studies programs at institutions like Columbia University and New York University.

Category:Native American artists Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American painters