Artist draws inspiration from contemporary Native experience

Next week the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls will open a summer-long exhibition of the work of the nationally celebrated Montana artist Sean Chandler.

The exhibit entitled “The One Defined to be No One” will be on display at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (The Square) through September 20, 2023, and will open on May 26 with a lecture by Chandler on his art and the inspiration he draws from to create it. The event is free and open to the public and will begin at 5:30 p.m.

“Once in the mode to create, I like to just let the work take me where I’m supposed to go… But very often, parts of the painting that seemed to be the best expressions turn out to be better by covering them up,” Chandler said in a quote released by The Square. “Maybe that is due in part to me, covering myself, layer by layer. More likely, however, it is a line formed by my own contemporary experiences in mainstream society connected to the years endured by ancestral experiences of dehumanization, racism, and cultural genocide.” 

Chandler, who is originally from Glendive, is an enrolled member of the Aaniinen (Gros Ventre Nation). He is also the President of Aaniiih Nakoda College located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation east of Havre. His artwork uses a variety of oil, acrylic, charcoal, paint stick and other media to communicate the contemporary life he lives.

Chandler’s work has been awarded by the Heard Museum in Phoenix and the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, and is part of collections at the Museum of Natural History in Paris and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minnesota. 

According to The Square, Chandler’s involvement in art began at an early age when his father taught him the traditional arts of his ancestors, including hide and tipi painting. Integrating those early teachings, Chandler voices his own style to communicate the themes of racism, loneliness, depression, anger, humor, stereotypes, sovereignty, dependency, and cultural genocide.

Chandler cites late Blackfeet artist Ernie Pepion, Salish Kootenai artist Corwin Clairmont and Bozeman-based artist Jay Schmidt as mentors.

The exhibition originated at the Missoula Art Museum (MAM) and will travel to select locations throughout the state of Montana via the Montana Art Gallery Director’s Association, a statewide service organization for non-profit museums & galleries. It is supported in part by grants from the Montana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is located at 1400 1st Avenue North in Great Falls. Visitor hours are Tuesday 10am to 9pm, Wednesday through Friday 10am to 5pm, and Saturday from 10pm to 3pm. The Square is closed Sunday and Monday and on select holidays. Admission is free to the public.

For more information, contact museum curator Nicole Maria Evans at nicole@the-square.org; (406) 727-8255, or visit The Square’s website at www.the-square.org.