Biography
Born January 15, 1940 at the St. Ignatius Indian Mission on her reservation, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is an enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana. Smith received an Associate of Arts Degree at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington in 1960, a BA in Art Education from Framingham State College, Massachusetts in 1976, and an MA in Visual Arts from the University of New Mexico in 1980.
Smith has been creating complex abstract paintings and prints since the 1970s. Combining appropriated imagery from commercial slogans and signage, art history and personal narratives, she forges an intimate visual language to convey her insistent socio-political commentary with astounding clout. Smith’s work carries tremendous weight and yet feels light and conversational—in large part due to this forged, personal lexicon of developed imagery. As critic Gerrit Henry, (Art in America, 2001) writes: “For all the primal nature of her origins, Smith adeptly takes on contemporary American society in her paintings, drawings and prints, looking at things Native and national through bifocals of the old and the new, the sacred and the profane, the divine and the witty.” For her ability to create and integrate her own visual language in her canvases, Smith produces multi-faceted work grounded in themes of personal and political identity.
Smith has received numerous awards such as the Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase Award, New York, l987; the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters Grant, 1996; the Women’s Caucus for the Arts Lifetime Achievement, 1997; the College Art Association Women’s Award, 2002; Governor’s Outstanding New Mexico Woman’s Award, 2005; New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, 2005. Art Table Artist Honoree, New York, 2011; Visionary Woman Award, Moore College, Pennsylvania, 2011; Elected to the National Academy of Art, New York, 2011; Living Artist of Distinction Award, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2012; NAEA Ziegfeld Lecture Award, 2014; The Woodson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015 along with four honorary doctorates: Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 1992; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1998; Massachusetts College of Art, 2003; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 2009.
Smith’s work in the collections of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; Museum of Modern Art, Quito, Ecuador; the Museum of Mankind, Vienna, Austria; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Exhibitions
Press
November 7, 2025
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith at Fruitmarket
March 5, 2025
“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always” reviewed in the Brooklyn Rail
March 4, 2025
“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always,” curated by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith reviewed in The Art Newspaper
January 28, 2025
In Memoriam: Jaune Quick to See Smith
December 9, 2024
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artnet News
March 13, 2024
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Seattle Times
December 7, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Cannupa Hanska Luger, and Emmi Whitehorse featured in NYT‘s best art of 2023
May 31, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Forbes
May 11, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Art Newspaper
May 10, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Culture Mag
April 28, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Interviewed in Art in America
April 27, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Apollo Magazine
April 20, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The New York Times
April 11, 2023
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in New York Magazine’s Vulture
January 16, 2022
Cannupa Hanska Luger and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Reviewed in The New York Times
January 5, 2022
James Luna and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Frieze
November 9, 2021
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Brad Kahlhamer Featured in Artsy
October 18, 2021
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Hyperallergic
May 1, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Reviewed in the Atlantic
March 5, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The New York Times Style Magazine
February 26, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Char-Koosta News
February 13, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Cannupa Hanska Luger Featured on ArtFixDaily
February 4, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artforum
January 10, 2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Art in America
December 10, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Financial Times
November 18, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in the Missoula Current
November 14, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artforum
November 14, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Laguna Beach Independent
November 7, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in the Smithsonian Blog
October 28, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artforum
July 15, 2019
“36 Works on Paper” Featured in Artnews (opens in new tab)
June 10, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Gladys Nilsson Featured in UC Davis News
May 5, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artforum
April 19, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Hyperallergic
March 15, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Missoulian
February 18, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Suburban Times
February 15, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artfix Daily
February 12, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Citypages
February 8, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Sampam
February 7, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Weekly Volcano
January 21, 2019
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in RDR Online
December 7, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in KTVH News
December 5, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Town Topics
November 30, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artnews
November 29, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Lincoln Journal Star
October 25, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Charkoosta News
October 21, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Arkansas Democrat Gazette
October 14, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
October 5, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Cowboys and Indians
October 4, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in KPVI News
October 1, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artdaily
July 15, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in South Bend Tribune
July 14, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Great Falls Tribune
April 9, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Time Out
April 9, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Artnews
March 11, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Arcade Project
March 5, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Hyperallergic
February 28, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Underground
February 26, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Penn State News
February 7, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Brooklyn Rail
January 23, 2018
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
November 27, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Featured in The Indypendent
November 10, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Interviewed on the Missoulian
May 30, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith featured on Billings Gazette
April 27, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Reviewed on Hyperallergic
March 30, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Reviewed on Paste Magazine
March 22, 2017
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith featured on Billings Gazette
