
Self-taught textile artist, author and curator Bonnie J. Smith lives and works in San Jose, California. She attended Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Campus (IUPUI); and Indiana Central College; and has taken Master Dyeing Classes at Dartmouth College. Smith received the 2015 NICHE Award for design, and her textile work was selected for exhibition in the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (2016). Swimming Upstream tells her personal journey with an injury that placed her temporarily in a wheel chair, to finally finding the courage to start creating art and living life again.