GARDINER, Mont. – What every American Indian artist needs is a place to display and sell art, especially in a high-traffic area.
What Jonie Little Bear, Oglala, and Ross Richardson plan is a gallery that displays up to 98 percent American Indian art in a location millions of people pass every year.
The Shooting Star Galley is located at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The two looked extensively for a suitable location and last May found a building near the park entrance.
“We knew this was the right place before we even physically got to see it. It is an excellent location with great possibilities,” Little Bear said.
“I am already a selling artist. With this experience we know how hard it is for an artist to get started, and to get gallery representation. We want to reach artists who aren’t being represented yet. This is a real opportunity to help and provide a much needed outlet for their work,” she said.
The two began remodeling the house purchased in May 1999. Richardson is a lumber estimations consultant and has done all of the remodeling himself. “It has been a huge undertaking, but we’re almost there! The interior will be completed within the next two weeks.”
Several years ago Little Bear was given a vision through a dream. She shared the dream with her husband and that was the beginning of Shooting Star Gallery. The vision was a gallery that would display and promote American Indian created art.
The gallery is not limited to painted work. It will display sculpture, photography, clothing, jewelry, flutes, hides, implements and music, to name a few.
An artist who wishes to display at the Shooting Star Gallery should contact the gallery to file an application and have the work reviewed. Artists who want information about displaying work at the gallery can contact Shooting Star by email: rossr@imt.net.