Jennie Smith was born in San Francisco, California, where she currently lives and works. She received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and an MFA from University of California, Berkeley. Her work was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, New York and she has been an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Her work is in the collections at the Berkeley Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and de Young Museum. In 2011 Chronicle Books published her illustrated book of folk songs titled The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs.