August Encampment
Painter and printmaker Quick-to-See Smith engages Native American history and identity in her work, often incorporating imagery drawn from contemporary American popular culture. This quasi-abstract painting is a reflection on the artist’s revitalizing reunions with family at a summer encampment at Badger Creek, outside Browning, Montana, at the ranch of George "G. G." Kipp, a well-known medicine person. Quick-to-See Smith has explained, "We lived in tipis, cooked outdoors and participated in ceremonies. It was a great social gathering of Blackfeet and families married into Blackfeet, all sharing news of Indian country, cooking together, sharing food, talking about Indian history, Indian politics and Indian survival." She notes that the ideograms appearing in August Encampment function like mnemonic devices, visualized recollections of encampment experiences and activities.
Artwork Details
- Title: August Encampment
- Artist: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation (St. Ignatius, Montana 1940–2025 Corrales, New Mexico)
- Date: 1988–89
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 60 × 50 in. (152.4 × 127 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Hinrich Peiper and Dorothee Peiper-Riegraf, in memory of Arlene LewAllen and in honor of Lowery Stokes Sims, 2007
- Object Number: 2007.313
- Rights and Reproduction: Courtesy the artist and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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