The Heritage of Our Ancestors: Works by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Kay WalkingStick, an
exhibition of nine paintings by two women of Native American descent, will be on display at the
Bayly Art Museum from August 21 through October 10. Images of the hunter and the hunted, or
the ubiquitous coyote -- the trickster -- cover the page like pictographs on a rock face in the
mixed media paintings and drawings of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Here these icons are painted
over collaged newspaper and magazine clippings, pointing out the complex relationships between
and within communities, their histories and cultures.
Quick-to-See Smith was born in 1940 on the Indian Mission Flathead Reservation in Montana.
She earned a degree in art education from Framingham State College, MA, in 1976 and an M.A.
from the University of New Mexico in 1980. She exhibits widely in this country and abroad and
works tirelessly to better the circumstances and public understanding of her people. An abstract
painter, Kay WalkingStick conveys content through the manipulation of formal elements. Her
painting sets up a counterpoint between abstracted illusionistic landscape and symbolically
abstracted landscape. These seeming dichotomies acknowledge the inward and outward balance
of nature and by implication of our own lives. She achieves in these images of the temporal and
spiritual nature of earth a unity that is rooted in the world view of her Cherokee forebears.
WalkingStick was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1935 and received her undergraduate degree at
Beaver College, Glenside, PA, in 1959. She identifies with the Cherokee side of her heritage. She
earned a graduate degree in painting at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, in 1975 after marrying and
raising her family. She has an extensive exhibition history and now lives and works in Ithaca, NY,
where she is a professor of art at Cornell University. The Heritage of Our Ancestors: Work by
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Kay WalkingStick is organized by Suzanne Foley, curator at the
Bayly Art Museum.
All works in the exhibition by Quick-to-See Smith are lent by Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New
York City. All works in the exhibition by WalkingStick are lent by June Kelly Gallery, New York
City. The exhibition is supported in part by the University of Virginias Arts Enhancement and
Art$ Programs, and the Womens Studies Program.
The Museum will host several events in conjunction with the exhibition. Kay WalkingStick
will present a slide lecture on September 17 at 5:30pm in Campbell Hall 158 entitled
Theres more to Art than Gender and Race, followed by a reception at the Museum.
The Museums Student Docents will host a reception for students on September 23 at 5pm
at the Museum, and Suzanne Foley will present a gallery talk on the exhibition on Sunday,
October 3 at 2pm at the Museum.
The Museum, located on Rugby Road, is open Tuesday through Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 pm and is
handicapped accessible. Docent-led tours for groups are available by calling 924-3592. Parking
is available behind the Museum, with additional parking available at the Elliewood Avenue lot.
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