Traci Rosenbaum

trosenbaum@greatfallstribune.com

Making a living as an artist is a daunting prospect. In a “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” society, even the most talented people need a lot of mentoring followed by a few lucky breaks to become widely recognized.

John Pepion, Ben Pease, Louis Still Smoking, Robert Martinez and Lauren Monroe Jr. understand this fact better than most. As rising stars in the western art scene, they faced many rejections before finding their niche.

All five artists are Native Americans working in Montana and the surrounding states who had been in shows together, but it was during the Montana Folk Festival in Butte in July 2016 that they decided to form the Creative Indigenous Collective with the goal of supporting each other’s art and helping emerging Native American artists as they build their careers.

The collective brings its talent to Great Falls with the newly opened exhibit titled “Emergence: A Collective of Plains Indian Warrior Artists” at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, and viewers can look forward to a variety of contemporary perspectives from the artists.

“I don’t think (the collective) was anybody’s idea,” said Pepion, who co-curates the upcoming show. “Nobody’s the leader. We all work together. We all help each other.”

Pepion grew up in rural Montana and now works out of Birch Creek on the Blackfeet Reservation. He comes from an artistic family, several of whom attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., for which he was selected just after high school.

Collective members work in a variety of media, from Pepion’s more traditional paper-and-ink ledger art to Pease’s mixed media and hand-carved woodblock pieces from Still Smoking.

Martinez brings several acrylic and oil airbrush portraits in bright — almost neon — color. Martinez lives on the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming. As one of the group’s older members, he has been making art professionally since 1997.

“I think the majority of us ... would rather be thought of as artists rather than Native American artists,” he said. “Native American art and contemporary Native American art is relegated to a sub-genre. There are many non-Natives who use Native imagery and their careers go sky high, but you very seldom see that with many Natives, even though we have the significant outlook on what we create.”

Pease, a student at Montana State University studying studio art, hopes the collective will erase some of those misconceptions and help more Native Americans break into the art world.

“The reason for moving forward together as a collective was just to give each other representation,” he said, “and showing that Native American art is really, really just as valid and just as thriving — or could be at least — as southwestern or even western art.”

Pepion, Pease and Martinez all agreed that being part of the collective has opened doors for its members. Each artist brings the connections he has made in the art world and uses his individual experiences to benefit the group as a whole.

As the group progresses, the next step is to invite emerging artists to participate and using the power of the collective to launch new careers.

“It’s easier to follow somebody that knows the way rather than blaze that trail individually,” Martinez said.

Pease, who is now based out of the Gallatin Valley, sold his first art piece when he was still in high school, and inspiring young artists is something he’s excited about.

“One of the most important goals is the educational aspect,” Pease said. “To share who we are, where we come from as individuals, how we view our world. The other goal is to share the validity of it through art, through creativity, through music.”

The collective is already branching out to include other facets of creativity as Still Smoking’s wife, Gina, brings her fashions to some of their shows. Pease said he hopes singers, writers and more will join them in the future.

The variety the collective brings to a show can be challenging to the venues planning their exhibits. Kristi Scott, curator of art at the Square, said coordinating so many artists, all of whom live in different places, can be tough.

“I’m interested to see how the partnership works,” she said, “and I’m excited to see artists banding together to help one another.”

Right now, Scott is waiting to hear about some funding that will keep the exhibit open through Western Art Week.

“Because Western Art Week is this quintessential cowboy art that actually often features Native Americans,” she said, “I think it’s really important for the Square to offer a platform for young Native artists to show during Western Art Week.”

Scott also hopes to have the artists back for a panel during that time to talk about Native American art and fashion and the current trend of cultural appropriation in today’s society.

The Creative Indigenous Collective is in talks right now to hold shows at the Missoula Art Museum, the Yellowstone Art Museum and at venues outside of Montana, and Pepion hopes these dialogues will help improve relationships between Native American artists and museums.

“We’d like to tell our story instead of museums telling us what to do,” he said. “We’re going to tell the stories and educate the world from our point of view.”

“I think we are always pushing for more representation,” Pease said. “The people who see our work in the collective are always intrigued and blown away.”

“We all just want to create great artwork and get it out there and get it seen,” Martinez said. “We like bringing a group of powerful artists to show the viewers that Native art is not what you think. Real Native art has quite a bit different meaning and subtext.”

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Traci Rosenbaum at 791-1490. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_TRosenba.

IF YOU GO

“Emergence: A Collective of Plains Indian Warrior Artists” is on display now at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art. The Square’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.