Celebrating Native American arts and culture across Montana's Yellowstone Country

Monday marks Indigenous Peoples Day, honoring the history, culture and resiliency of Native Americans. Montana is home to eight federally recognized tribal nations representing 12 distinct tribes. Our neighbor, Yellowstone National Park, has 27 tribes affiliated with the land. For over 11,000 years, these tribes came to the area to hunt, gather obsidian, and hold ceremonies near the thermal features. Today, the Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center hosts Indigenous artists, scholars and presenters from these tribes to engage visitors through formal and informal education.

Indigenous Events in Southcentral Montana

In Red Lodge, Neighboring Nations: Indigenous Arts and Culture Festival kicks off today with a weekend full of Indigenous fashion, films, a vendor market, live music, panel discussions, Indigenous food and even a cooking class!

Museum of the Rockies is hosting an Indigenous Peoples Day Youth Celebration, with youth-oriented activities such as beading crafts and sensory bins. In the evening, an Indigenous fashion show will feature artist and designer, Angela Howecreator, of the Choke Cherry Creek clothing line.

November brings the Indigenous Marketplace to Bozeman’s Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, where Native artists from Alaska to Arizona will display their work, just in time for the holidays!

Indigenous Artists and Craftspeople

While in Red Lodge, be sure to stop at the Kevin Red Star Gallery. Known and respected in museums and private collections, Red Star is celebrated for combining Native culture with contemporary artistic expression. Also based in Red Lodge, Bethany Yellowtail is the founder of b.Yellowtail, a Native American fashion and lifestyle brand, dedicated to sharing authentic indigenous design. John Potter, another Native American painter, makes his home in Red Lodge. Often painting en plein air, he brings his smaller works back to his studio as inspiration for his larger work.

Red Lodge isn’t the only place you can find Native art and crafts — incredible work can be found in stores and galleries across Montana’s Yellowstone Country. The Cradleboard, New Pioneer Indian Trading Co., Buffalo Spirit Trading Post and Dancing Moose Gifts, all in West Yellowstone, carry a variety of jewelry, pottery, beadwork, artifacts, and wood carvings.

Bozeman is home to White Bear Moccasins, custom-made moccasins by designer Shauna White Bear. You can learn more about her from our Backstories segment! The online gallery,  Indian Uprising Gallery, is known for its highly curated collection of pictographic drawings, ceramics, beadwork and jewelry.

In Livingston, Medicine Bird Gallery features the work of John Isaiah Pepion, best known for his ledger art, an art tradition developed in the Plains tribes. Alyssa McGeeley makes her home in Gardiner, where, in addition to her role as Tribal Engagement Manager for Yellowstone Forever, she explores traditional arts such as beading and quilting. Finally, for music lovers, check out Ryan Little Eagle, an Indigenous singer-songwriter, musician and storyteller based in Three Forks.

We hope you enjoy!