It takes four rooms, filled to the brim, to hold the Red Cloud Heritage Center Collection in Pine Ridge, S.D. That was what greeted John Rawlings and Karl Rangikawhiti Leonard earlier this month.
Part of that historic American Indian art collection is on display at the Flathead Valley Community College’s Arts and Technology Building until Nov. 16.
“The last two days have been exhausting,” said Rawlings, FVCC’s art director, while in South Dakota. “We’ve looked at nearly 2,000 paintings, but we’re going to have one hell of a show.”
The art collection is owned by the Red Cloud Indian School and includes nearly 10,000 pieces dating back to the early 1800s. The school started the collection in 1969. It has art from tribes across the country, including the Blackfeet and Salish Kootenai nations.
Rawlings said displaying work from Montana tribes was critical. In all, 37 pieces are on loan to FVCC.
“We felt that if we’re going to bring this collection to our part of the world, we should show stuff from Native Americans in our area,” he said.
The collection on loan to FVCC consists of contemporary pieces from the last 40 years. Rawlings said a variety of mediums are represented, including oil and acrylic paints, etches and collage. Rawlings said variety was an important consideration when picking the pieces. He hopes his students will be able to learn from the art.
Helping Rawlings pick, package and move the pieces from South Dakota was Leonard, who has been at FVCC since August. Leonard is the community college’s Fulbright Scholar-in-Resident for the 2012 – 2013 school year. Originally from New Zealand, he is teaching classes about the traditional Maori art of the country’s indigenous people. Leonard said looking at the Red Cloud collection showed that there were similarities between the native people of New Zealand and North America.
Beyond similarities, Leonard was looking for other things in the pieces they picked.
“You are looking for things that evoke or create emotions,” he said.
Rawlings said the emotions each painting holds varies from piece to piece. Some are sad, whereas others are humorous. Some of the paintings are so funny that Rawlings said they had a hard time packing without laughing.
Both Rawlings and Leonard agreed that the most important part of the exhibit was being able to share artwork from a different culture.
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John Rawlings, left, and Karl Leonard organize pieces of the Red Cloud Heritage Center Collection prior to the show’s opening at the Flathead Valley Community College’s Art and Technology Building. The show of historic American Indian art is on display until Nov. 16. Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon |
“The work you see will reflect the Native American culture,” Rawlings said. “Part of what we’re doing is sharing cultures and bringing it to the Flathead Valley.
Part of the Red Cloud Heritage Center art collection is on display now at Flathead Valley Community College’s Arts and Technology Building in Kalispell. The gallery can be viewed by the public free of charge until Nov. 16. It is open from Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
For more information visit www.fvcc.edu.