Jean Smith

For other people named Jean Smith, see Jean Smith (disambiguation).
Jean Smith
Background information
Birth nameJean Isabel Smith
Born1959 (age 64–65)[1]
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Singer, painter, novelist, lecturer, filmmaker

Jean Isabel Smith (born 1959) is a Canadian writer, painter and the lead singer of the Vancouver band Mecca 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

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.[4]

She began a series of paintings in 2016 to the present that she sells each day via Facebook posts to raise money to create an artist residency in Vancouver.[1][2][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Chong, Kevin (5 May 2020). "Rocker Jean Smith Is Pulling through the Pandemic One Painting at a Time". The Tyee.
  2. ^ a b c "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. ^ Hopper, Jessica (27 April 2006). "SWF, 45". Chicago Reader.
  5. ^ Marino, Nick (6 January 2021). "The Painter Subverting Art-World Economics, $100 at a Time". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Vancouver painter's $100 Facebook portraits raise more than $150,000 for residency project". www.theartnewspaper.com. 21 September 2020.