Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art, 1995, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, collagraph, 76 1/2 × 53 in., Printed by Kevin Garber; published by Island Press Collaborative Print Workshop, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation 2000.191, © Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: I'm Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, and I'm from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation in Montana.
Narrator: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith made this work after the fifth centennial of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: We had been celebrating 500 years of American art, so I decided to do a little spoof on that and go back 40,000 years. And of course I know that it wasn't called America at that time, but my purpose was to do a little teaching moment with that. And so I was looking for an icon. I wanted something that they would have a relationship to Jeff Koons, Barry Flanagan, Watership Down, Easter Bunny, Harvey, Playboy Rabbit, March Hare, White Rabbit, Peter Rabbit, Thumper, Bugs Bunny, Velveteen Rabbit, Roger Rabbit, Miffy, Peter Cottontail. And so then I decided, that's a good icon.
I had to figure out where I was going to find the rabbit, and it’sin the Peterborough petroglyphs site, there are standing rabbits. But then I began doing some research on standing rabbits and they occur all over the world. To bring more children, or to bring in a better crop. Or tricksterism in Native American culture, a rabbit is part of the creation story. I usually go forward, and then I look back. And I think that's what I did here.