Jaune Quick-to-See Smith:
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Book Illustrations

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As a child, “I read books about the whole world,” recalls Jaune Quick-to-See Smith in an interview with art historian Lowery Stokes Sims for the exhibition catalogue produced on the occasion of her Whitney Museum retrospective. During the artist’s youth, exposure to art and literature were difficult to come by. “We didn’t have a library; we had a bookmobile that parked on our dirt road. We had a lot of chores on our farm since we grew our own food. I would hide to read books because if somebody caught me with “my nose in a book,” it was a bad thing. But I read as much as I could possibly check out from that bookmobile.” 

Smith’s insatiable appetite for printed matter continued into her adult life, a passion that she shared with many of her friends. Artist Joe Feddersen fondly remembers how they’d seek out inexpensive flights to New York where they would travel to do two things: “buy books and go to shows.” Publications, like artworks, are vehicles for ideas—and Smith immersed herself in both. In the early eighties, as Smith’s artistic career grew more established, she began to collaborate with writers, scholars, poets, and other artists across the country. Over the years, she provided reproductions of artworks and designed illustrations for dozens of books and periodicals authored by some of the most prominent Indigenous thinkers and poets working at the time, including Joy Harjo, Gerald Vizenor, and Elizabeth Woody, among others. A small collection of the titles Smith collaborated on appear below.

  • A cover of a book entirely covered in bright colors, images of animals, and organic shapes.
    A cover of a book entirely covered in bright colors, images of animals, and organic shapes.

    The Telling of the World: Native American Stories and Art, edited by W. S. Penn. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 199

  • The silhouette of four figures with a large bird hovering above.
    The silhouette of four figures with a large bird hovering above.

    Drink the Winds, Let the Waters Flow Free, by Sharon Day-Garcia and Pat Panagoulias. Minneapolis: Johnson Institute, 1983

  • A maroon and pink background with a sketch in black, blue, brown, and white of human and animal forms.
    A maroon and pink background with a sketch in black, blue, brown, and white of human and animal forms.

    Hand into Stone, by Elizabeth Woody. New York: Contact II Publications, 1988

  • The cover of a book showing clothing for a paper doll with spots all over the shape.
    The cover of a book showing clothing for a paper doll with spots all over the shape.

    How to ’92: Model Actions for a Post-Columbian World. Minneapolis: Alliance for Cultural Democracy, 1992

  • A book cover showing mountains and text on a red background.
    A book cover showing mountains and text on a red background.

    The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature, edited by Geary Hobson. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979

  • A sketch of human, organic, and animal forms in bright blue, pink, orange, black, and white.
    A sketch of human, organic, and animal forms in bright blue, pink, orange, black, and white.

    I Become Part of It: Sacred Dimensions in Native American Life, edited by D. M. Dooling and Paul Jordan-Smith. New York: Parabola Books, 1989

  • A book cover showing a sketch of animals and geometric shapes.
    A book cover showing a sketch of animals and geometric shapes.

    Wordarrows: Indians and Whites in the New Fur Trade, by Gerald Vizenor. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981

  • A book cover showing three figures with a large blue swirl shape above them.
    A book cover showing three figures with a large blue swirl shape above them.

    In Strong Heart Song: Lines from a Revolutionary Text, by Lance Henson. Albuquerque: West End Press, 1997

  • The photographic profile of a person with two long braids against a dark oval and yellow background.
    The photographic profile of a person with two long braids against a dark oval and yellow background.

    Montana Memories: The Life of Emma Magee in the Rocky Mountain West 1866–1950, by Ida S. Patterson. Pablo, MT: Salish Kootenai Community College, 1981

  • A book cover showing light filtered through clouds.
    A book cover showing light filtered through clouds.

    A Gathering Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women, edited by Beth Brant. Special issue, Sinister Wisdom, nos. 22/23, 1983

  • The cover of a book with illustrations of people, animals, and organic shapes.
    The cover of a book with illustrations of people, animals, and organic shapes.

    That’s What She Said: Contemporary Poetry and Fiction by Native American Women, edited by Rayna Green, xvii–xix. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984

  • A blue book cover with a sketch of a group of deer.
    A blue book cover with a sketch of a group of deer.

    Without Warning, by Charlotte Declue. New York: Strawberry Press, 1985

  • The cover of a book showing a sketch of organic shapes and a handprint.
    The cover of a book showing a sketch of organic shapes and a handprint.

    Seven Hands, Seven Hearts, by Elizabeth Woody. Portland, OR: Eighth Mountain Press, 1994

  • An orange book cover with black, blue, brown, and burnt orange colors floating around black lines forming organic shapes and figures.
    An orange book cover with black, blue, brown, and burnt orange colors floating around black lines forming organic shapes and figures.

    A Breeze Swept Through, by Luci Tapahonso. Albuquerque: West End Press, 1987

  • A book cover showing a man with a feather in his hair dreaming of a rabbit puppeteering a man.
    A book cover showing a man with a feather in his hair dreaming of a rabbit puppeteering a man.

    A Casino Bestiary, by Denise Low. Kansas City: Spartan Press, 2017

  • Black drawings of animals, people, and plants swirl across a sketched yellow and black background.
    Black drawings of animals, people, and plants swirl across a sketched yellow and black background.

    Earthdivers: Tribal Narratives on Mixed Descent, by Gerald Vizenor. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981

  • A book cover showing black and red geometric shapes and organic forms.
    A book cover showing black and red geometric shapes and organic forms.

    In Mad Love and War, by Joy Harjo. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1990

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