Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and George McNeil

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith in 1998 (photo by Thomas King)

This week marked the passing of the groundbreaking and generous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. As a young artist, Jaune Quick-to-see Smith (an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation) assisted George McNeil in printing his lithographs during his 1970s residencies at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. George often mentioned Jaune and was delighted to see her work flourish in the decades to come. Both artists continued their printmaking at Tamarind and are found together in the portfolio, Artists' Impressions (1992–93). Despite their different backgrounds and the messaging of their work, the two shared a surprisingly kindred visual language marked by urgent, graphic mark-making, and playfully inventive approaches to the two dimensional picture plane.

In Spring 2023, George's daughter Helen led a seminar on artist-led foundations hosted by the Aspen Institute’s Artist-Endowed Foundation Initiative. Jaune was in attendance, and impressed upon Helen the importance of her apprenticeship with George, and how kind and supportive he had been. Helen hopes Jaune’s legacy is upheld through a nonprofit that will help keep her powerful work, and other work by Indigenous artists, in front of the public.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, “Artist’s Impressions: Salish,” 1989, color lithograph on Japanese paper, 12 1/16 x 12 1/16 in. (30.6 x 30.6 cm), Catalogue raisonné: Tamarind 89-338