Jaune Quick-To-See Smith was born in 1940 in Montana on the St. Ignatius, Flathead Reservation. She died in 2025 in Corrales, New Mexico.

A Native American of French-Cree, Shoshone, and Salish blood, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith created paintings and drawings that reflect her upbringing in a household where art and horses were equally important. Her chosen imagery often included her horse Cheyenne, tepees, tools, pottery, and other Indian artifacts. Later Smith began to incorporate collage elements into her paintings, adding calico and muslin fabric and wire mesh over which she applied paint. The result was surfaces that acquired a texture and topography reminiscent of the landscapes she was depicting. She was part of the new generation of Native American artists who redefined their culture's relationship to contemporary American life and its problematic past. She lived and worked in Corrales, New Mexico, a smaller town just north of Albuquerque – the land that inspired much of her art.