National Women's History Project recognizes Tribal artist Juane Quick-to-see Smith

By Alyssa Kelly

CALIFORNIA - "The knowledge of women's history provides a more expansive vision of what a woman can do. This perspective can encourage girls and women to think larger and bolder and can give boys and men a fuller understanding of the female experience," says the National Women's History Project.

Women's Art: Women's Vision, was selected as the organization's March 2008 theme for National Women's History Month. According to the organization, the theme was chosen to honor the originality, beauty, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women's lives.

Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith, an abstract painter/ lithographer from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, was among twelve artists chosen as this year's National Women's History Project honorees. The women are recognized for fulfilling their life purposes, while creating historic achievements.

Born in 1940 on the Flathead Reservation, Smith followed her passion to become one of the most acclaimed Indian artists to date. A self-proclaimed cultural art worker, Smith's pieces portray an at times, humorous, Indian worldview. Some of her more famous pieces, such as "Where is John Lennon When We Need Him?" are known to address tribal politics, human rights, and environmental issues.

Like several success stories, Smith's began with an education. She earned an Associate of Arts Degree at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington in 1960 before attending the University of Washington in Seattle. Smith received a BA in art education at Framingham State College in 1976 and a master's degree in art at the University of New Mexico in 1980.

Over the past 30 years, Smith has had over 80 solo exhibits and national printmaking projects. She's been involved in organizing over 30 Indian exhibitions, lectured at more than 185 international universities, museums, and conferences.

Smith has also completed several collaborative public art pieces such as the floor design in the Great Hall of the Denver airport; an in-situ sculpture piece in Yerba Buena Park in San Francisco and a sidewalk history trail in west Seattle that extends a mile long.

Among several awards Smith has received, some include the Women's Caucus for the Arts Lifetime Achievement 97, and three honorary doctorates: Minneapolis College of Art and Design 92, Pennsylvania Academy of Fin Arts 98, and Massachusetts College of Art 03. She was also awarded the Governor's Outstanding New Mexico Woman's Award 05.

Smith's work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art, Quito, Ecuador; the Museum of Mankind, Vienna, Austria; The Walker, Minneapolis, MN; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitey Museum, both in NY.

For more information on Smith or the National Women's History Project you could visit their website at: www.nwhp.org.