The Art of Linda Pease at the Brinton Museum

The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming presents its 20th Illustrator Show featuring Apsáalooke/Crow artist Linda Pease from Billings, Montana.

The Brinton Museum’s first exhibition of the season showcases Apsáalooke/Crow artist Linda Pease in the S. K. Johnston, Jr. Family Gallery, beginning February 6. Linda is one of 8 generations of artists in the Pease family who creates art. She reminds us it is through art that the stories of the Apsáalooke People are kept alive today.

Using oils, acrylics, watercolors, mixed-media materials, colored markers, and ledger papers, Pease illustrates her remembrances as a child growing up Indian, of unwritten stories of battles, of ceremonies and of dances, and the love and care shown by her extended Indian family.

In a photograph from 1961, Pease is shown dancing at Sheridan All American Indian Days. She recalls as a child her father often bounced her on his knee singing a Crow song. This she believes “gave her the rhythm to step in time with the drum and move to the nuances in the song.” Pease shares fond memories of her grandmother and her grandmother’s kitchen.

“As life began to change, we lived in square wood homes and we found tables handy. Our grandmother or Káale’s kitchen is warm, and she waits there, and prays for our success. This tryptic features Káale in the center, with coffee on the table for all who visit there. Her daughter has found success in her career. She received word she would be honored at the Night Hot Dance. Because the dances begin late, she is sipping one last cup of coffee with her buckskin elk teeth dress and fine moccasins on. Her younger brother is an athlete and awaits word of a scholarship to play football at Haskell Indian Junior College in Kansas.

Pease addresses the critical issues the Indian Nations are facing today. “A crisis has consumed all nations. Crime and violence has brought unexpected disappearances of our young people and death without a clue of how it happened. These young ones have felt hopeless. Suddenly they are gone. Families are left in grief, waiting for word, and looking everywhere. The spirits of those that may have been lost may find a new spiritual home. The mothers and aunts pray for their restoration and peace.

In describing the imagery in the painting, Remembered Well, Pease tells us, “The Lodge and images on the left are the Other Side Camp, and the lodge and figures on the right is our world.” The Art of Linda Pease – 20th Illustrator Show continues at The Brinton Museum through April 7.

Linda Pease will be at The Brinton Museum March 12, 13 & 14 for school tours to talk about her art and the visual stories she tells in her paintings. Student tours to meet the artist are offered as free admission and can be scheduled by contacting Museum Educator Will Lopez at wlopez@thebrintonmuseum.org, or call 307-687-5972. Docent-guided tours are available weekdays through the end of the show.

A reception to meet the artist takes place on Friday, March 14, from 5 to 7 PM. This program is free and open to the public. This exhibition and related programs are funded in part with generous support from the Wyoming Arts Council, Edwin T. Meredith Foundation, Homer A. & Mildred S. Scott Foundation, and Tucker Foundation.

About The Brinton Museum: Founded in 1960, The Brinton Museum is an institution dedicated to preserving the art, history and culture of the West. Located on the historic Quarter Circle A Ranch in the foothills of the majestic Bighorn Mountains, it features 19th, 20th and 21st century American and Indian Art in a historic Western setting. The Brinton Museum offers free general admission, sponsored by Ramaco Carbon, LLC for the third consecutive year, and is a participating member of the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association.

Contact: Barbara McNab, Curator of Exhibitions, bmcnab@thebrintonmuseum.org Main # 307-672-3173 Direct # 307-763-5924 The Brinton Museum is located at 239 Brinton Road in Big Horn, WY, 82833 More information about collections, exhibitions and programs is found at thebrintonmuseum.org

Photos courtesy of the Brinton Museum