Sun Smith-Foret is a professional studio artist, teacher and independent curator. She has been formally active in textile construction, quilts, sculpture, functional and amuletic objects since finishing graduate school at Washington University.

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Her undergraduate work is in art history, art and architecture. She became interested in quilting while studying design, drawing, painting and printmaking as a graduate student. Smith-Foret noticed the importance of line, color, composition, pattern, and especially the complexities and elegant solutions in bending the grid which occurs in traditional African American improvisational quilts. She was drawn to solutions and inventions that enliven basic grid structure and saw the possibility of linking abstract scenarios, social and cultural content from film and filmmakers into my surface design. This connection resulted in a body of work focused on quilts inspired by that linkage to global cinema. As a practicing psychotherapist, Smith-Foret integrates all genres of film related to behavior and cultural impact, gender and social differences, family and other relationships.

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The 3D amuletic sculptural work is a recent acquisition in her skill set and came from direct observation of the work of Jane Sauer, a former studio mate and decades-long friend and colleague. The work is sourced by an invitation for an outdoor installation at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in W. Alton, MO. The idea of nests as sign and symbol fit with my current exploration of new materials including flood wood (her home on the Mississippi River is in the floodplain), beads, and waxed linen. The basketry work is sculptural and reflects trans-tribal influences from contemporary and traditional global sources. The circular nature of the construction mirrors spiritual concerns leaning toward the transcendental.