Artwork copyright Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Artwork copyright Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Photo courtesy of Western Washington University, 2025.

War is Heck 3, 2001

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
American Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation Bitterroot Salish (Flathead) (born 1940, died 2025)

Location: Western Washington University, Bellingham

About the Artwork

War is Heck 3 is a powerful monotype print by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. The title was taken from a "War is Hell" New York Times newspaper headline. By using the word "heck" in her title, the artist highlights the contrast between war and a word that is weak and trite to describe it. The title is also in contrast to the graphic imagery. She is alarmed that we, as a society, have become desensitized to the seriousness of war. Quick-to-See Smith notes, "Are we so inured to war that we accept it as the way to solve problems between countries? Americans have come to believe that we can single out some international bad guys and with high tech equipment 'take them out,' neatly, cleanly solving problems for the whole planet... People are herded from their homelands and treated like sub-humans by corporate governments who value oil over humanity." The horse is like buffalo, cattle, and other animals that are led to slaughter.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Western Washington University.

About the Artist

Jaune Quick-To-See Smith grew up on the Flathead Nation in Montana in a home where art and horses were equally important. She traveled around the Pacific Northwest and California with her father, who was a horse trader. She graduated from Puyallup High School in Western Washington and earned an Associate of Arts degree at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington in 1960. She studied at the University of Washington before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education from Framingham State College in Massachusetts in 1976. She had to take many breaks from college to earn money but in 1980, she earned a Master of Arts degree in Art from the University of New Mexico. Quick-to-See Smith’s artworks are represented in many museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. She was the first Native American artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.