Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, of Salish, French-Cree and Shoshone ancestry, was born on the Flathead Indian Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana in 1940. The daughter of an amateur painter, her pastels and paintings depict her memories of childhood landscapes, her horse, "Cheyenne," appearing in many of her works.

She studied at Framingham State College, Massachusetts, earning a B.A. degree in Art Education in 1976, and the University of New Mexico, M.F.A., Art, 1980. She now lives in Corrales, New Mexico.

Smith became an artist while in her 30s, and was earning a living as a painter before she completed her degree at the University of New Mexico. By the mid-1970s, Smith had also founded artists' groups, curated exhibitions, and ...