Fresh Art

It took a little longer than originally planned, but Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild saw the completion of two fresh installations during the first week of October.

Northern Cheyenne artist Bently Spang put the finishing touches on his new piece, a collection of 30 interconnected lodgepole tripods, during the last week of September.

"It just was quite an experience," he said Oct.6, when he returned to talk about his piece with Julia and Shanenon Starrett for a video about the latest installations. "It's such a massive piece. I look back at it and go 'how did this happen?' you know? Then I remember all the hands that were in there putting this together; skinning poles and putting this together, lifting up the tripods. It's really neat that there's that much energy in here from different people."

Spang had initially planned for 25 of the tripods - the first step in putting up a Cheyenne lodge - but ended up with enough lodgepoles to add five more. Arrayed in a crescent shape along a low area near the BPSW parking lot, the tripods are all connected to one another. They reflect the connectivity of Native American communities, even among those that had been historical enemies but are now connected through shared history, similarities in culture and, in many cases, marriage.

During the weeks he spent here, Spang had the aid of volunteer Chris Owen, who helped him work out the details of the piece and and traded jokes as they set up the tripods. The talkative Spang was more than happy to tell anyone who stopped by about his work, his culture and the what the piece is meant to convey, and he saw visitors jump in to help out. Some spent time peeling poles, while others lent a hand in lifting the tripods into place and repositioning them.

"I really appreciate people's efforts and getting into the piece. Just the buy-in people had on the piece was so great," he said. "Hopefully it has the impact that people understand a little more about the history of this land and where it's been and where it's going. The title I came up with was 'We've Always Been Here and We're Still Here.' I hope it gets across that we're complex cultures and that's why we're still here."

Like Spang, British artist Stuart Frost also created an installation using lodgepoles. While Spang and his piece were front and center by design, Frost's presence was a bit lower key as he worked on his piece for the northwest corner of the sculpture park, not far from the rear entrance.

(Note: The BPSW website and ads mistakenly indicated Frost was from Denmark. Though he briefly lived there at one point, he actually hails from Bath in England.)

Like his 2019 installation "A Place is a Place is a Place," Frost's "Dancing Trees" needed a considerable amount of work off-site. Working with Marshall Bullis, Frost used 25 lodgepoles that were cut into one-inch-thick disks. He then reassembled them, giving the trunks a slightly serpentine curve, around a wooden frame.

Frost said cutting the lodgepoles down into disks seemed like forever but reckoned it must have taken 10 days. "It's not just cutting them (into disks). You've got to go cut the trees down, get them on the trailer and start cutting them. It was quite a feat," he said.

Due to scheduling related to a photography residency his wife had in Missoula, Frost arrived about a week after the residency was originally scheduled to begin, but he spent about an extra week in Lincoln working on his piece. He and Bullis were putting the finishing touches on it just as the Starretts arrived to do their filming Oct. 6.

Though he didn't have the time to reflect on the piece as they were working to build it, Frost finally had a chance to consider the end result once all the tarps and ladders were moved out.

"It's been a long process, but I'm very pleased with the result," he told the BVD. "It came together."

Just a couple days before he wasn't sure he'd have time to get all the pieces in place before he had to leave.

"Starting with the model, everything was defined, and you knew you could make it fit when you've got that sort of scale. But here...there was nothing that would say it was going to work as I'd hoped," he said. "But it came together amazingly. I learned a lot doing it. You've got to number things specifically, every little detail. You can't think of all those things. It seems so simple in itself but theres a lot more to it. I learned a hell of a lot doing it."

Frost also credits Bullis' engineering skills for helping bring the artwork to fruition, from designing the jig to cut the trees into disks to keeping the construction on track. "You've got to have someone like that around. It sharpens your senses and makes you think. If you just let it go a little bit, it starts to go that much, and you've got a problem. He's the ideal guy to have around."

From a distance "Dancing Trees" looks like a tall, enormous tree trunk, larger than anything you'd expect to see among the largest Ponderosa Pines. As you get closer, the re-shaped lodgepoles impart an impression of movement.

"I think the scale of it is great. The base of it, you don't find a tree...with that sort of diameter. Proportionally it works. There's nothing to say it couldn't have been higher, but you've got to compete with the other trees here," he said. "I think the space for it is great as well. We've got this circle it fits quite nicely in."

He said it also doesn't appear foreign. "It looks like it should be there or could be there."

In contrast to Spang, who's work is designed to impart a definite message, Frost said he's not really saying one thing or another with "Dancing Trees."

"I think it will start asking questions in itself." he said "A lot of questions will come up. Hopefully it will be a talking point."

Find More photos at: https://www.blackfootvalleydispatch.com/photos