Vibrant Night Art Market celebrates Indigenous artists in Rapid City

RAPID CITY – The Night Art Market hosted by Black Hills Indian Artist Market at Racing Magpie was a full house. The gathering of art, community, music, food, hands-on-creativity and film featured both local and nationally recognized artists selling their best work as well as music from the Wake Singers and a film screening.

Artist vendors packed the house and were ready as visitors began arriving the minute the market opened at 3pm. The event started in the afternoon and continued into the evening hours where the 100-degree temperature gave way to an ideal summer evening climate.

There were both traditional and contemporary artists displaying and selling their fine art paintings, photography, beadwork, earrings, bracelets, purses, textile art. There was also free henna hand art, free screen printing on your own shirt or bag as well as free portrait drawing

Black Hills Indian Artist Market organizer Lorri Ann Two Bulls provided the free henna tattoo designs. Her works have been exhibited at the Dahl Arts Center, Akta Lakota Museum, St. Joseph’s Indian School, the Red Cloud Art Show and many other venues. She works with organic materials creating a wide range of art, from jewelry to Christmas ornaments. She is well-known for her doll pins which she began making using brain-tanned elk buckskin after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma more than 20 years ago.

If you missed the Art Market, you can see Two Bulls on Racing Magpie’s Virtual Residency program, which is a series of live and recorded videos featuring artists talking about their art forms, giving technical tips and demonstrations.

Maiki Ghost Bear (Oglala), a 22-year-old graphic designer blends contemporary and anime-inspired styles with vibrant neon colors. Their creative process often begins with sketches in a sketchbook which they later manipulate in Photoshop. Despite being self-taught after high school, Ghost Bear went on to earn a graphic design degree from Oglala Lakota College.

“I am completely a free-lance artist since I graduated.” Although Ghost Bear said that teaching has helped sustain them. “You have to have confidence in yourself and know that your art will take you wherever you need to go. I had a mentor who was supportive. It’s kind of up to you to make the path. I literally changed directions. It’s been about four years since I changed life directions. I completely did a 180. I was academic. I was a book worm and was supposed to go to college for science and engineering. This is all new to me too. You have to be willing to learn. Everything I know is from asking people other questions.

When asked which of their own works is their favorite, Ghost Bear said their piece featuring a jingle dress dancer. “I am a Two-Spirit individual, and I was a jingle dress dancer when I was younger. With this piece I was reconnecting with my background. My dad and grandma passed away, so I don’t have as many connections anymore.”

The jingle dress dancer recently won second place at the Red Cloud Art Show.

Ghost Bear said they attend a lot of markets, and anyone interested can find out where Ghost Bear will be next on Instagram and Facebook.

Sitting across from Ghost Bear was Martin Red Bear (Rosebud), a well-known figure in the art community.

Martin Red Bear went to school at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe and University of New Mexico. When he finished school, he came back to his home at Pine Ridge. However, his time in the Southwest had a profound impact on his artistic perspective and style.

“I picked up a lot of ideas in the southwest when I went to school there. It’s a lot of colorful fun that I do.” Red Bear first draws freehand (without reference or tracing) and then finishes with acrylic paint. There’s a lot of detail and color. “A lot of it is just stuff that I think of right away and put it down. Without realizing to somebody it means something else. But that’s the way art is anyway. Everybody has their own interpretation of what art is. And that’s fine. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Much of his work features bears, small and large. “I like bears.”

Red Bear became inspired when he worked at a museum. “I got to interview artists and photograph them and their work. They told me about what interested them and that got my imagination going. I had the G.I. Bill, so I decided to get into museum work and went to school in the southwest.

Red Bear can’t be found online but can be found at art shows.

By the time twilight arrived, conditions were perfect to sit outside to watch an outdoor screening of the documentary film “INSPIRED: Horse Nation of the Ochethi Sakowin” by contemporary Native artist and filmmaker Keith BraveHeart. The documentary film emerged out of the recent Mahpiya Luta Heritage Center traveling exhibition on the Horse Nation that examines the art and culture of the Horse Nation.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

The post Vibrant Night Art Market celebrates Indigenous artists in Rapid City first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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