Ashland School- Ashland, MT
 
Ashland school is located just off the Northern Cheyenne reservation.  It was a special place to talk about Alaina Buffalospirit’s, “Cheyenne Horses” and Bently Spang’s, “Presence of the Sacred.” Both artists are part of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and create artwork based on their history and contemporary themes relating to reservation life. When we looked at Alaina Buffalospirit’s ledger artwork, the 4th grade teacher piped up. “Hey everyone, we know ledger art. We just visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield national park last week and saw examples of ledger art.” When I brought out Bently Spang’s piece, I asked if anyone knew Bently. I heard that he had lived in Ashland when he was younger. One student said, “Yeah! My dad hangs out with him all the time.” With the older students, I asked if they noticed anything in Bently Spang’s piece that they might recognize. One student thought the colors in the drawing might be part of the medicine wheel. It was fantastic to have an audience of students who shared a unique perspective with the artist.  Both age groups K-4 and 5-8 had many questions for me and were interested in all the work displayed.
 

Morin Elementary- Billings, MT
Morin Elementary is located on the Crow reservation south of Billings. Walking into the school, the first thing I noticed was a framed portrait.  It was a photograph of Crow leader Chief Plenty Coups. Native history and traditions were not only apparent on the walls of the school, but also in student artwork. 

I lead an art lesson in which we created a mixed media envelope book based on our favorite things. I explained that artists often find their inspiration from their own experiences and what matters most to them. I asked students to think about the things that are important to themselves. Without hesitation, all the K-8 kids jumped into the lesson. Students illustrated Indian days, Crow fair, and the St. Labre Indian School basketball team. One student drew a picture of the “stick game.” I asked her how the stick game worked, she told me, “It’s hard to explain, but there is a lot of guessing involved. Sometimes we bet with money and it is really fun.” 

MSU-Billings College- Billings, MT

We had two art teaching workshops with the K-6 Elementary Teaching students. I emphasized the importance of connecting artists from the community to schools. I showed the students our website and where they can find all of our artists, information about the artists, and our art lessons. I showed the students a couple of examples of art projects that I have travelled with this year and led them in a watercolor resist project. The students dived into the project right away, creating an abstract dreamscape with watercolors, rubbing alcohol, and salt. After that, students brainstormed symbols that described their future dreams. Many of the students included symbols related to becoming a teacher and also having families. I asked the students if this was a lesson they would teach in their schools, everyone said that they definitely would! 
 

Plains High School- Plains, MT
​The exhibit was set up in the library at the school, which is located centrally near the hallway. Many students and faculty slowed down to see what the Art Mobile was and to see the art displayed. We had one presentation with students whom Kristen pulled from other classes and her art class. The Plains students were a great audience. We started by sharing why we make art. One student mentioned that she makes art to help her with stress. After we talked about why we make art, students took the time to check out the entire exhibit. There were two community members from the Plains Art Council who came to see the exhibit. They joined the students in walking through the exhibit. After we took the time to see the art up close, students asked me questions about the artwork. The Native pieces were big favorites. One student mentioned that he was Blackfeet and had an artwork that looked like Ernest Marceau’s painting. He said he would go home and check to see if it was the same artist. Another student loved Maggy Hiltner’s, Familiar Faces: Hand Me down Blues. She was impressed that it was entirely sewn and didn’t expect that kind of medium in an art exhibit.

Central School- Helena, MT 
At Central School Elementary, the Art Mobile exhibit was set up in the music building. Two large groups of K-3 grade students fit snug inside the building for art presentations. These kids were more than willing to ask questions and offer responses. We had so much fun looking at the artwork. After the presentations, I travelled to classrooms with art lessons. We created envelope books that held some of our favorite things. Students enjoyed drawing figures, cutting them out, and creatively glueing them to their envelopes. I had a fun two days in Helena!