Gladstone cited his travels to Finland, where he learned of a tribal people that mingled with reindeer the way the Blackfeet did with buffalo, lived in tipis, and had a similar belief system.

"You see that there's a similar, if not identical, belief that people expressed," Gladstone said. "I'm interested in harmonizing what we all have."

He cited how his Blackfeet grandmother understood the importance of stories, comparing his tradition of passing on stories to that of the Blackfeet tradition of fire carriers bringing coal embers from camp to camp.

"In my 32nd season at Glacier, I see people I met when they were kids who are now in college or have kids of their own who say the stories I passed on resonated with them," Gladstone said.

Gladstone then played down his singular status as an honoree ("I've been feeling a little bit guilty"), saying the most important thing was nurturing the artistic community through the world.

"We've constructed an industrial infrastructure, but let deteriorate the infrastructure for the natural and human world," Gladstone said. "Through the arts, the connection to that world works."

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