Jean Smith

Jean Isabel Smith (born 1959) is a Canadian musician, writer and painter. Smith was first known as the lead singer of the Vancouver band Mecca Normal, and later as a painter.

For other people named Jean Smith, see Jean Smith (disambiguation).
Jean Smith
Background information
Birth nameJean Isabel Smith
Born1959 (age 61–62)[1]
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Singer, painter, novelist, lecturer, filmmaker
Associated actsMecca Normal

Career

Music

Smith co-founded Mecca Normal with bandmate David Lester[2] in 1981, while the two were working together at a Vancouver newspaper. Mecca Normal is considered a forerunner of the 1990s politically charged riot grrrl movement.[2][3]

Painting

In 2000, Smith's series of watercolour self-portraits (1973–1999, from age 13 onward) were exhibited at Olympia's Ladyfest Art Show.[4] The self-portrait series is included in Mecca Normal's music, art and lecture event How Art & Music Can Change the World which, since 2002, Smith and Lester have been presenting in university and high school classrooms, art galleries, indie media outlets and book stores.[5] The lecture was presented on an April 2009 tour marking Mecca Normal's twenty-fifth anniversary after which it evolved into Smith's adaptation of David Lester's graphic novel The Listener (Arbeiter Ring, 2011) which deals with similar themes.

Smith has continued the self-portrait series in watercolour, video and photography, including photos from her online dating profiles in her short film Attraction is Ephemeral — the title of a song on Mecca Normal's 2006 album The Observer.[6]

In 2016 she began a series of paintings that she would then sell each day via Facebook posts.[1][2][7][8]

Writing

In August 1993, Smith's first novel I Can Hear Me Fine was published by David Lester's publishing company Get to the Point. Her second novel, The Ghost of Understanding, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 1998. Chapbooks The Family Swan and Other Songs (2002) and Two Stories (2006) were published by Get to the Point.

References
  1. Chong, Kevin (5 May 2020). "Rocker Jean Smith Is Pulling through the Pandemic One Painting at a Time". The Tyee.
  2. "Vancouver artist ditches part-time job, sells over 1,500 paintings | CBC Radio". CBC.
  3. McDonnell, Evelyn; Vincentelli, Elisabeth (3 May 2019). "Riot Grrrl United Feminism and Punk. Here's an Essential Listening Guide. (Published 2019)". The New York Times.
  4. "Teenage Self-portraits". Jeansmithpainter.wordpress.com. March 23, 2013.
  5. "How Art & Music Can Change the World". Howartandmusiccanchangetheworld.wordpress.com.
  6. Hopper, Jessica. "SWF, 45". Chicago Reader.
  7. Marino, Nick (6 January 2021). "The Painter Subverting Art-World Economics, $100 at a Time". The New York Times.
  8. "Vancouver painter's $100 Facebook portraits raise more than $150,000 for residency project". www.theartnewspaper.com.
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