Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 49 THE WARRIOR'S TASK Pepion still draws the same kinds of pictures of warriors on horseback that Blackfeet artists drew before 1900, but some of his riders have switched mounts to keep up with the times. "I've been doing warriors on bikes, war- riors on motorcycles, warriors in cars," he said. "Nowadays, things are way different. I can't go out on a horse raid or go count coup on another enemy. ere are different ways to be warriors now, like getting an education. For me, being a warrior is through art." And the fights those modern Blackfeet and other American Indian nations fight nowadays, Pepion says, are about issues such as oil and wa- ter and poverty—the kind of eastern Montana oilfields theme that emerges in Pepion's 2014 piece of ledger art, Indian Girl Lost In A Man Camp. Guardipee draws real figures from history such as Mountain Chief and a noted Blackfeet woman warrior named Running Eagle. She's the person for whom Running Eagle Falls in Glacier National Park is named. PICTURING THE LAND ose who study historic ledger art say there was little attention to the landscape of real places in those drawings. e background was often just a vague setting in which to show the warrior's exploits. But both Guardipee and Pepion say the land is hard to keep out of their drawings, especially the mountains that give Montana its name. "Where I'm from, mountains are part of our culture, and I believe it's where we get a lot of our power from," Pepion said. "One mountain particularly you'll see in my art is called Chief Mountain. People believe that's where under lives, and it's a really sacred place. at's where we go to have vision quests and fast." Guardipee deliberately seeks out historic documents from Montana. Besides his drawings, he makes collages, sometimes on old highway maps or gas station maps of Montana. He also uses stock certificates from railroads and mining companies in Montana, old checks, war ration books, Great Northern train memorabilia, music paper, old wall maps from Montana schools. Construction projects are complex. Your construction fi nancing doesn't have to be. At American Bank, we manage all aspects of your fi nancing in-house, keeping a close eye on your bottom line throughout the construction process. That way, you can focus on what really matters. americanbankmontana.com Bozeman l Big Sky l Big Timber Livingston l Whitefish Member FDIC Way of Life, Isaah Pepion CONTINUED

• Cover