Jaune Quick-to-See Smith facts for kids

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (born January 15, 1940, died January 24, 2025) was a famous Native American artist and art curator. She was a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She also had Métis and Shoshone heritage. Jaune was also a teacher, storyteller, and a strong voice for art and Native American rights.

For over 50 years, Smith was known for creating many artworks. She had more than 50 solo art shows and helped organize over 30 other exhibitions. Her art often showed a Native American view of the world. It talked about Native American identity, past struggles, and environmental issues.

In the mid-1970s, Smith became well-known for her paintings and printmaking. Later, she also used collage, drawing, and mixed media in her art. Her works have been shown in many places. They are part of the permanent collections at famous museums. These include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her art is also in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

In 2020, the National Gallery of Art bought her painting I See Red: Target (1992). This was the first painting on canvas by a Native American artist that the gallery owned. Smith supported the Native art community. She organized shows and worked on projects with other artists. She lived in Corrales, New Mexico, near the Rio Grande, with her family.

Jaune Smith's Early Life

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was born on January 15, 1940. This was in St. Ignatius Mission, a small town in Montana. It is on the Flathead Reservation. Her first name, Jaune, means "yellow" in French. This shows her Métis background. Her Native American name, "Quick-to-See," was given by her Shoshone grandmother. It meant she could understand things quickly.

As a child, Smith moved around a lot. Her father raised her alone. He traded horses and took part in rodeos. Because of his job, they often moved between different reservations. Jaune lived in many places in the Pacific Northwest and California. She grew up in poverty. From ages eight to fifteen, she worked with migrant workers in Seattle during school breaks.

Smith knew early on that she wanted to be an artist. She remembered drawing on the ground with sticks when she was four. She loved the smell of tempera paints and crayons in first grade. She said it was a "real awakening." She painted children dancing around Mount Rainier. Her teacher loved it. Then, for Valentine's Day, she painted red hearts all over the sky. She called it her first abstract painting.

Jaune Smith's Education Journey

In 1958, Smith began her art education in Washington State. She went to Olympic College in Bremerton. She earned an associate of arts degree in 1960. She also took classes at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her studies were paused because she had to work. She had many jobs, like waitress, factory worker, and secretary.

In 1976, she earned a bachelor's degree in Art Education. This was from Framingham State College in Massachusetts. Then she moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. She wanted to go to graduate school at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She was first drawn to UNM because of its strong Native American studies program. She applied three times but was not accepted. So, she kept taking classes and making art.

After her art was shown in a New York City gallery and reviewed in Art in America, she was finally accepted. In 1980, she earned her Masters in Art from UNM. This education taught her about classical and modern art. It helped her connect with the global art world.

Smith used her childhood experiences and art education in her work. She blended Native and non-Native cultures. Her art shows her life's journey. It includes public art, collaborations, and printmaking. Her work is a way to communicate visually. She layered her art to connect different worlds. She also used it to teach about social, political, and environmental issues.

Jaune Smith's Artistic Style

Smith started making complex abstract paintings and lithographs in the 1970s. She used many different materials. She worked with paint, printmaking, and mixed media pieces with rich textures. She added collage elements like commercial slogans and petroglyphs (ancient rock carvings). She also used rough drawings and layered text. These elements helped her show complex ideas from her own life.

Her art often had strong messages about society and politics. It spoke about past and present cultural unfairness. It also showed the ongoing importance of Native American peoples. She used humor to talk about tribal politics, human rights, and environmental problems. Smith was known around the world for her art. It was based on her strong cultural beliefs and her work as an activist.

Smith also created public artworks. These include a terrazzo floor design at the Denver International Airport. She also made a sculpture in Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Another work was a mile-long sidewalk history trail in West Seattle.

Art in the 1980s

August Encampment (1988–1989) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022

Smith's early mature work included abstract landscapes. She started these in the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Her landscapes often had pictographic symbols. They were seen as a type of self-portrait. One art critic said her works combined personal memories and history. The landscapes often showed horses, teepees, humans, and antelopes.

These paintings explored how Native Americans felt disconnected in modern culture. Smith blended old traditions with new art styles. She began to use the style of Abstract Expressionists. She explained that she saw lines, forms, and colors in both modern art and old Indian artifacts. She made connections between them. For example, she saw a Hunkpapa drum like a Mark Rothko painting.

Art in the 1990s

I See Red: Target (1992) at the National Gallery of Art in 2022

In the 1990s, Smith started her I See Red series. She worked on this series throughout her life. These paintings were first shown in 1992. This was during protests about the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival. The paintings in this series used many kinds of images. These came from popular culture, advertisements, and even her own past work.

She put together images that showed how Native American cultures were often used for profit. She also included reminders of the colonizers' history. The style of these paintings, with their layers and collage, has been compared to artists like Robert Rauschenberg. Their pop-art feel also reminds people of Andy Warhol's work.

Art in the 2000s

Tribal Map (2000–2001) at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC

Smith always focused on respecting nature, animals, and people. She was interested in how government policies affected Native Americans. This included their health, rights, and independence. She showed her beliefs by avoiding harmful art supplies. She also tried to use less storage space for her art.

Smith's paintings included modern cultural symbols and collage pieces. She used references to characters like the Lone Ranger and Snow White. She also included brand names like Altoids and Krispy Kreme. These references helped her criticize American consumerism. She showed how this culture often used Native American cultures for its own benefit. She used humor in a cartoon-like way. She wanted to show how nature was being harmed and how shallow modern culture could be.

Nomad Art Manifesto

Smith was an environmentalist. She often criticized the pollution caused by art-making. This included toxic materials and too much shipping. The Nomad Art Manifesto was a set of ideas she created. It was based on the look of parfleches (Native American rawhide containers). It included squares with messages about the environment and Native American life. These were made from biodegradable materials.

The Nomad Art Manifesto states:

• Nomad Art is made with materials that break down naturally.
• Nomad Art can be recycled.
• Nomad Art can be folded and sent in a small package.
• Nomad Art can be stored on a bookshelf, saving space.
• Nomad Art does not need a frame.
• Nomad Art is good for countries that are changing or forming.
• Nomad Art is for the new age of people moving around the world.

Personal Life and Passing

Smith's son, Neal Ambrose-Smith, is also an artist. He is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, and teacher.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith passed away from pancreatic cancer. She died in Corrales, New Mexico, on January 24, 2025. She was 85 years old.

Awards and Honors

Smith received many awards and honors throughout her career. These recognized her work as an artist, teacher, art supporter, and activist.

She was given several honorary degrees. These included doctorates in art from different colleges. She also received a professorship in art from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989. In 2015, she received a degree in Native American Studies from Salish Kootenai College.

Smith received several lifetime achievement awards. These honored her dedication to her career. She was inducted into the National Academy of Design in 2011. She also received the Women's Vision Award in 2008. Other notable awards include the Wallace Stegner Award in 1995 and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in 1996.

Her home state of New Mexico also honored her contributions to the arts. In 1979, she was named one of "80 Professional Women to Watch in the 1980s." This was for her community work. She also received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2005. In 2012, she received the Living Artist of Distinction award. Smith was also added to the New Mexico Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.

Exhibitions

Smith had more than 50 solo art shows in the United States and other countries. Some of her solo shows included Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1979) in New York. Others were Parameters Series (1993) in Virginia and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Poet in Paint (2001) in New York.

Her largest show, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map, opened in 2023. It was at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This made Smith the first Native American artist to have a solo show of her entire work at the Whitney.

She also took part in many group exhibitions. These included the 48th Venice Biennale (1999) and the Havana Biennial (2009).

Smith also organized more than 30 exhibitions. In 2023, she curated a show of modern art by Native American artists. This was at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She was the first artist to curate an exhibition there. The show, The Land Carries our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans, featured nearly 50 Native artists.

Images for kids

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  August Encampment (1988–1989)

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  I See Red: Target (1992)

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  Tribal Map (2000–2001)

See also

In Spanish: Jaune Quick-To-See Smith para niños