Verbal Description: Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art, 1995

Narrator: Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art is a large vertical collagraph etching, 76 1/2 inches high by 53 inches wide. The work consists of several central dark figures with text at the top and bottom of the work. The figures are silhouettes in the shape of rabbits, drawn in a similar style as the Peterborough petroglyphs and they recede in size from largest at the right and smallest at the left, five total. Each rabbit is anthropomorphized, standing upright with long arms, legs and torso like a person. They have long faces, long rabbit ears pointed upwards, and a short pointed tail sticking out from the left side of their hips. They do not have distinguished features on their paws. Peeking out from behind the two largest rabbits and underneath text at the top of the image is a hazy and loosely drawn outline of a large rabbit with prominent ears in a more dynamic pose than the other rabbits with its arms and legs apart and whose body that blends into the dark hazy background. 

Above the rabbits at the top of the image blocky text in a rounded font and in all caps reads “CELEBRATE 40,000 YEARS”, and text at the bottom of the image reads “OF AMERICAN ART”. The background has a smokey gritty gray texture, and the text along with the rabbit shapes are a deep, warm black. The image is speckled with water droplets with a sand-like texture. Throughout the grittiness, there are thin twisting trails of drips, and a cloudy haze of black and gray. The two largest rabbits also contain texture as they are speckled with light streaks against their black silhouettes. Quick-to-See Smith chose a rabbit here because of its popularity and recognition worldwide, and to pay homage to ancient rabbit petroglyphs.