Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery

Glacier Peaks StarLink Cable Heritage Center    Blackfeet Coins Oki Communications Siyeh Home About Siyeh Honoring Nations Award Contact Siyeh Blackfeet Links Glacier Links Montana Links Siyeh Projects Wind Energy Siyeh Privacy Siyeh Pass and Mount Siyeh in Glacier National Park Montana The Blackfeet Nation invites you to visit the Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery to experience authentic Blackfeet and Native American arts, crafts and jewelry.  Blackfeet Heritage Center is located in Browning, Montana on Highway 2 in the heart of Blackfeet Country in beautiful northwestern Montana.  The Heritage Center is open daily in the summer, weekdays in winter, is handicap accessible and admission is free. Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country: 200 Years of American History Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery hosted a national traveling exhibit being displayed in libraries and tribal centers throughout the United States. Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery is owned by the Blackfeet Tribe and is managed by Siyeh Corporation, a federally chartered corporation under Section 17 of the Indian Reorganization Act.  Although Blackfeet own the art gallery, the main goal is to promote as many Native American cultures through tribal art as possible.  The Blackfeet people believe that by promoting Native American Art cultural preservation for all Native Americans will be inspired. Opened in 2002, Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery exhibits and sells items ranging from a large selection of Native American Historical and Traditional Books to Beadwork - Jewelry - Quillwork - Pottery - Rugs - Kachinas - Horsehair - Moccasins - Carvings - Bronze - Baskets - Rawhide - Drums - Dolls - Hides - Original Water Colors - Acrylics - Oils.  Many unique and traditional Native American creations are available by over 500 artists from 16 separate North American tribes. To purchase Native American Carfts and Artwork on display at the Blackfeet Heritage Center visit the Blackfeet Nation Store Blackfeet Man's Beaded Bag and Pipe Blackfeet Nation Store is a secure site. Blackfeet culture and history now on display at the Blackfeet Heritage Center by John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor, June 9, 2005 The place was packed Saturday in Browning for the grand opening of the Blackfeet Heritage Center.  A much anticipated event, the opening marked Siyeh Development Corporation's largest project to date around an area planned to also house the Blackfeet Tribe's new casino.  Blackfeet Councilman Jay St. Goddard acted as emcee for the event, and Blackfeet elder Al Potts delivered the opening prayer. Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the suit seeking justice for thousands of American Indians and an accounting of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' handling of the IIM accounts, was the keynote speaker.  "I've always dreamed of a museum without walls," she said, "and I feel like the work we did establishing the National Museum of the American Indian [in Washington DC] is home."  Cobell noted the Center "will give artists the jumpstart they need" and an opportunity to turn their talents into real businesses.  "In developing the community," she said, "we must develop in cooperation with the culture.  You have given us a gift today," she said of Siyeh's brainchild, "and we of the community appreciate it." Keynote speaker Eloise Cobell hailed the opening of the Blackfeet Heritage Center as an example of the efforts to establish the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., as having come home. Photo by John McGill. Blackfeet artist Valentina Lapier is this month's featured artist at the Heritage Center, and the walls of the upper gallery are filled with her works in acrylics, watercolors, dyes and oils. Lapier was on hand at the opening, as well as representatives of Siyeh's board and many interested community members.Food was provided, and Blackfeet Native flautist John Pepion entertained those in attendance. The Blackfeet Heritage Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Works on display for sale are also available online at http://www.blackfeetnationstore.com. New center showcases ancient heritage, art by Jared Miller, Great Falls Tribune, June 12, 2005 BROWNING — Just like modern-day soldiers, early Plains Indians were adept at armoring their bodies for battle. Long before Kevlar vests, Blackfeet fighters repelled stone-tipped arrows with "war shirts" laced with a protective — and often richly decorative — weave of porcupine quills. Modern-day connoisseurs of military garb and lovers of authentic Native American artistry normally look to museums for a peek at these precursors to the bulletproof vest.  Finding one for sale has always been trickier — until now. The Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery in Browning is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The center is located at 333 Central Ave. W., is handicap accessible and admission is free. Call (406) 338-5661 or visit the Web site: www.blackfeetnationstore.com. Summer hours for the nearby Museum of the Plains Indian are 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Photo by Colleen's Computer Corner. An authentic war shirt made by a modern Native artist is among the thousands of traditional and contemporary Indian art pieces for sale at the new Blackfeet Heritage Center and Art Gallery in Browning.  The center is located on Highway 2, a convenient stop for the estimated 2 million visitors who enter Glacier National Park each year via the Blackfeet Reservation. And it's across the street from the Museum of the Plains Indian, a well-established venue for Blackfeet artifacts and art, and the North American Indian Days powwow grounds.  The July 7-10 powwow, one of the largest in the region, is an intriguing way to observe authentic Blackfeet traditions. If art and dancing aren't your thing, the tribe-owned heritage center also is the permanent home of a world-class dinosaur fossil.  The 74-million-year-old baby T. rex fossil — the smallest ever found — was discovered on the reservation in 1995.  Dr. Jack Horner, renowned The Museum of the Rockies paleontologist, called the tiny T. rex an "absolutely exquisite specimen" that every dinosaur museum in the world would love to have.  Tribal Councilman Jay St. Goddard said the heritage center serves as the new home for important dinosaur fossils from the reservation. Dedicated art fans recognize the heritage center building as the former studio of prolific Browning sculptor Bob Scriver.  Known for his bronze depictions of wildlife, rodeos and Native Americans, Scriver used the studio for decades before his death in 1999 at age 84.  Tribal officials say it's a fitting home for the new center. The heritage center is one of the latest projects of Siyeh Development Corp., the tribe's business arm.  Using a $400,000 federal grant, Siyeh Development transformed Scriver's studio in a 6,000-square-foot showcase of Blackfeet artistry and culture.  It opened for business June 1 and employs a staff of nine. "It's a place that has been created for the showcasing of Blackfeet heritage and culture to be shared with the traveling public and the local community," Dennis Fitzpatrick, general manager of Siyeh Development, said.  "It's a place for the Blackfeet to tell the Blackfeet story." It's also a place for the Blackfeet to preserve and perpetuate their culture.  Tribal members can learn the traditional art and craft skills of their ancestors at classes at the center. Economically, the center should be a boon for the reservation. Southwestern tribes like the Navajo and Hopi have long cornered the market on the Native American art sales.  The Blackfeet hope to use the heritage center to expand the reputation of artists from their tribe. Tribal officials hope the center also will help capture a larger chunk of revenue from the stream of tourists traveling over the reservation on their way to Glacier National Park. In addition to boosting tribal revenue, sales from heritage center arts will put money into the pockets of local artists who supply the center with work.  Much of the artwork at the heritage center is available at the heritage center's on-line Blackfeet Nation Store at www.blackfeetnationstore.com. Darrell Norman, owner of Lodge Pole Gallery and Tipi Village west of Browning, said he welcomes the Heritage Center and Art Gallery to the local art scene.  A new venue could draw more art lovers to town, he said, which can only help his business.  "The problem we have here in Browning is keeping people here in town," said Norman, who has been in business for 12 years.  "They head right on up to (Glacier) Park."  The Lodge Pole Gallery and Tipi Village is located 2 1/4 miles west of Browning on Highway 89. The Heritage Center has a strong focus on high-quality contemporary Native artwork. It features work by a different artist each month in the West Gallery.  The June artist is Valentina LaPier of East Glacier Park, who is showing oil and acrylic paintings.  A full-time artist who shows work at galleries in Montana and New Mexico, LaPier said she's thrilled to see a new platform for Native art on the reservation.  "It's going to give more exposure, more often, to Blackfeet artists," said LaPier, who serves as vice president of the Plains Artists Association, a group dedicated to promoting Blackfeet artists.  "And we really have to perpetuate Blackfeet art."  LaPier is among the artists who prepared a buffalo for the C.M. Russell Museum's Buffalo Hunt fundraiser last month in Great Falls. The next featured artists are Lyle Omeasoo in July and Gale Running Wolf in August. Visitors who hope walk away from the center with a piece of authentic Plains Indian art should expect to pay for it.  While smaller items may sell for just a few dollars, the center also carries artwork worth thousands. That authentic Indian war shirt, for example, carries a price tag of $5,000. The Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery in Browning is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The center is located at 333 Central Ave. W., is handicap accessible and admission is free. Call (406) 338-5661 or visit the Web site: www.blackfeetnationstore.com. Summer hours for the nearby Museum of the Plains Indian are 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Photo from Great Falls Tribune. For further information please contact Blackfeet Heritage Center & Art Gallery at PO Box 1629, 333 Central Avenue West, Browning, Montana 59417, call 406-338-5661, fax 406-338-5665, send an email to sales@blackfeetnationstore.com or complete this form. 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