Private Collection
The Swamp, 2015, oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 40"

Private Collection
The Face of Ancient America, 2013, oil on canvas, 48"x36"

This image is taken from a head fragment dated 300 A.D. in Coastal Lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. It likely was attached to a life-size human figure. So I’m only guessing what that figure might have looked like. I have the figure standing in a pile of building blocks with skulls peering out as though in a dig or a midden. I was so captivated by the sophistication of this sculpture that I wanted to commemorate it, commit it to memory for myself. As I delve into the history of the Americas for my own research, Native America never ceases to surprise me with artistry that is unknown or little discussed. Museum, University and art conferences often neglect the continent they stand upon and offer panels and discussions on Egyptian art, Medieval and European art rather than anything about the original peoples of the Americas including today’s descendants of the First Peoples who are sometimes called “Aliens.” - JQTSS

Waiting for Rain, 2014, Lithograph, Edition of 20, 22" x15"

Waiting for Rain - We've been in severe drought for perhaps 5 years or more and since I'm a gardener, this really affects my life as I observe the stress on the eco system around me. I used a drawing from Karl Bodmer for the Native man, a locust from Andre Masson, a bird from Wifredo Lam. There are bars of "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey" My meaning is totally different from the song, which is about a sweetheart, my meaning is that perhaps grey skies will bring some rain.- JQTSS

An American Breakthrough, 2007, color lithograph & archival inkjet, ed. 30, 25" x 17.5"

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Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Trade Canoe: Forty Days and Forty Nights, 2015, acrylic, collage and mixed media on canvas, 160” x 60”EndFragment

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Biography

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is one of the most acclaimed American Indian artists of today. She has been reviewed in most art periodicals. Smith has had over 100 solo exhibits in the past 40 years and has done printmaking projects nationwide. Over that same time, she has organized and/or curated over 30 Native exhibitions, lectured at more than 200 universities, museums and conferences internationally, most recently at 5 universities in China. Smith has completed several collaborative public art works such as the floor design in the Great Hall of the new Denver Airport; an in-situ sculpture piece in Yerba Buena Park, San Francisco and a mile-long sidewalk history trail in West Seattle and recently, a new terrazzo floor design at the Denver Airport.

Smith uses humor and satire to examine myths, stereotypes and the paradox of American Indian 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, print-maker and professor. She was born at St. Ignatius Mission on her Reservation and is an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana. She holds 4 honorary doctorates from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Mass College of Art and the University of New Mexico. Her work is in collections at the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Walker, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum for World Cultures, Frankfurt, Germany and Museum for Ethnology, Berlin. Recent awards include a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation to archive her work; the 2011 Art Table Artist Award; Moore College Visionary Woman Award for 2011; Induction into the National Academy of Art 2011; Living Artist of Distinction, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, NM 2012; the Switzer Award for 2012.