Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, b. 1940
Where Do We Come From? I, 2001
Mixed media on canvas

The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith refers to herself as a cultural arts worker. She uses humor and satire to examine myths, stereotypes, and the paradox of Indigenous life in contrast to the consumerism of American society. Her work is philosophically centered by her strong traditional beliefs and political activism. Smith is internationally known as an artist, curator, lecturer, printmaker, and freelance professor as well as a mentor, for she believes that giving back is a life philosophy. She was born at St. Ignatius Mission, raised by her father, who was an illiterate horse trader, and began working as a field hand at age 8. Smith earned an art education degree at Framingham State College in Massachusetts (now Framingham University) and an M.A. in art at the University of New Mexico. She has organized and curated more than 30 Native exhibitions in 40-plus years. She has given more than 200 lectures at museums and universities internationally and has shown in more than 125 solo exhibitions and more than 650 group exhibitions. Her work is in collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Brooklyn Museum; the Whitney Museum; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Berlin Museum of Ethnology, Germany; the University of Regina, Canada; and the Museum of Modern Art. Smith holds five honorary degrees and has received numerous awards, including the following: 1987 American Academy of Art and Letters Purchase Award, New York; 1995 Painting Award, Fourth International Bienal, Cuenca, Ecuador; 1996 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award; 1997 Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award; 2005 New Mexico Governor’s Award; 2011 inducted into the National Academy of Design; 2012 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Living Artist of Distinction; honorary B.A. degree, Salish Kootenai College, Montana; 2018 Montana Governor’s Award; 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award in Printmaking, Southern Graphics Council International; 2019 Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award, New York; and 2020 United States Artists Fellowship.