Sculpture to welcome all to Flathead
The same artist who created the distinctive metal sculptures that mark the entrances to the Blackfeet Reservation has — with the help of four dedicated Flathead High School students — fashioned a similar monument for Flathead.
Blackfeet artist Jay Laber’s latest work will be unveiled today following the “Origins” choir concert in the Flathead auditorium. The welded life-size statue of a horse and rider in a welcoming posture will be placed near Flathead’s east entrance, in the spot where the giant arrow has been for the past few years. The arrow will be moved to the lawn near the fine arts wing.
Art students Gabrielle Stow, Alisa Hanson, Ashley Judd and Jason Ritchie dedicated a number of Saturdays and Sundays to working in Laber’s St. Ignatius studio. Laber is an art instructor at Salish-Kootenai College in Pablo and has been part of an artist-in-residence program at Flathead, along with Corky Clairmont and Linda King, for the past few years.
Stow, a junior, was the body model for the sculpture and one of the main players in its construction. She said Laber took the students through the steps involved in creating his unique style of art, cutting and then welding the metal.
“I got to do more of the cutting as he trusted us to cut more materials,” Stow said. “I actually got to weld some of the big pieces on, and weld my name to it.
“I can’t really wrap my mind around the whole idea of having my name on there,” she said of being an intrinsic part of such a high-profile work of art.
Chuck Manning, head of Flathead High School’s art department, said the idea for creating a piece for the courtyard came up last summer when he was at Salish-Kootenai College lining up the artist residency plans for this year.
Laber, who also has sculptures displayed at the University of Montana, in Helena and even at a university in Germany, was open to the idea. Laber is known for transforming old cars, or “rez wrecks” into his trademark metal pieces.
“For thousands of years, Indians used whatever they could find in the world around them,” Laber is quoted in the program for tonight’s unveiling. “When I see a wrecked car, I don’t look at it as a foreign object. I see it as an opportunity.”
The students brainstormed concepts for the sculptures, with student Tara Crane’s design chosen as the main inspiration. Then, Manning said, four students began making regular pilgrimages to the St. Ignatius studio.
“The kids picked out the types of metal, cut the metal out of old cars, went out and stripped chrome off cars, and did a lot of the legwork,” Manning said.
“It really says a lot that the kids got so excited and interested in a project, as just about every Sunday one of the art staff would go down with them and work on it. We made at least 15 or more trips.”
Funding for the sculpture project was through the Montana Art’s Council’s “Artists in Schools and Community” program with matching funds through Indian Education for All. The Hockaday Museum of Art also has been an instrumental part of the resident artist program.