WOUNDED GRAND MARSHALL, by ERNIE PEPION
1988, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 65″, Museum purchase funded by John Buck, Deborah Butterfield and Miriam Sample (2002.27)
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ABOUT THE ARTIST: ERNIE PEPION
Ernie Pepion was born on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in 1943 in Browning, Montana. He has spoken frequently of the discrimination he experienced growing up on a reservation border town and attending a predominantly non-Indian school. He was a Vietnam Veteran, and returned to the United States in the 1970’s. After being in a car accident in 1971, Pepion became a quadriplegic. Despite this, he got his Bachelor’s, and later his Master’s of Fine Art, both from Montana State University, Bozeman. A MSU mechanical engineering class built an automatic easel to aid Pepion in his painting. He held his brush in one hand with a brace, and the easel would turn 180 degrees to allow him to reach all parts of his canvas. His work is largely autobiographical, using symbolism in many of his paintings to convey his unique experience of the world.
QUESTIONS FOR VIEWING
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS):
- What do you see in this painting? What do you notice
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What else do you see in this painting? / What more can we find?
Additional Questions:
- Who is the main subject of this painting?
- Is this painting a portrait or a landscape?
- Does this painting tell a story?
- Pepion’s work is often autobiographical, he uses symbols to show things about himself. What symbols or elements of the painting do you think he is using to tell us about himself?
ART VOCABULARY
- Portrait- a painting, drawing, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person usually showing a face
- Gesture- a quick sketch of a person done through observation • Shape- an element of art that is a two-dimensional enclosed area
- Line- an identifiable path created by a point moving in space
- Landscape- art that shows a scene from nature
- Background- the area of the artwork that appears furthest from the viewer
- Symbol- a recognizable object, color, or action that represents something
- Primary colors- basic colors that can be mixed to create all other colors. Red, Yellow, and Blue.
- Secondary colors- colors created by mixing equal parts of two primary colors together. Orange, Green, Purple
IEFA Vocabulary:
- Blackfeet/Siksika- See Montana Indians and their History and Location- Blackfeet https://opi.mt.gov/Portals/182/Page%20Files/Indian%20Education/Indian%20Education%2010 1/Montana%20Indians%20Their%20History%20and%20Location.pdf
LESSON PLAN: ACTION SELF PORTRAITS
Lesson Overview: Students will create an action self-portrait using gesture drawing skills, personal interests, and acrylic paint.
STANDARDS
National Visual Art Standards:
- VA:Cr2.1.3a: Create personally satisfying artwork using a variety of artistic processes and materials.
- VA:Cr3.1.3a: Elaborate visual information by adding details in an artwork to enhance emerging meaning.
- VA:Ps6.1.4a: Identify and explain how and where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art.
Montana Standards: Visual Arts
- Anchor Standard #2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. Create artwork using a variety of artistic processes and materials
- Anchor Standard #3: Refine and complete artistic work. Elaborate on artwork by adding details to enhance meaning.
- Anchor Standard #8: Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work. Discuss the use of media to create subject matter, form, and mood in artwork.
IEFA
- Essential Understanding 1: There is great diversity among the twelve sovereign tribes of Montana in their languages, cultures, histories, and governments. Each tribe has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to modern Montana.
- Essential Understanding 2: Just as there is great diversity among tribal nations, there is great diversity among individual American Indians as identity is developed, defined, and redefined by entities, organizations, and people. There is no generic American Indian.
- Essential Understanding 3: The ideologies of Native traditional beliefs and spirituality persist into modern day life as a tribal cultures, traditions, and languages are still practiced by many American Indian people and are incorporated into how tribes govern and manage their affairs.
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