Pioneer of Performance Art, Barbara T. Smith began her groundbreaking work in the late 60s. Since then, she has performed throughout the US, in Europe, and Asia. She received her B.A. from Pomona College, her MFA from UC Irvine in 1971, and has taught and lectured at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad. A recipient of three NEA Grants, she has also been given a Vesta award from the Women's Building in 1983 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Caucus for Art in 1999. Smith has participated in the founding of several alternative spaces in Los Angeles and has produced and curated many multi-artist performance events. She was in the LA artist show at the Pompidou in Paris, and the WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution show at MOCA and at PS1 in New York, more recently in several museum shows as part of Pacific Standard Time initiated by the Getty. Smith is represented by the Box gallery in Los Angeles and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York. Currently she has a retrospective show at The Getty Research Institute and a solo show at The Box Gallery.
