Please Stand By: Works in Progress by Star Wallowing Bull

Star Wallowing Bull received his first art award when he was in the third grade. The prize was a free month supply of chocolate milkshakes. He has received numerous awards since, including the Bush Foundation Fellowship in 2010 and, most recently, the Native Arts Cultural Foundation Fellowship in 2014.

According to his artist biography, courtesy of Minneapolis’ Bockley Gallery, which Star is represented by, “His work is currently featured in the exhibition ‘Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes’ organized by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, New York City. His work can be found in the collections of the aforementioned museum, from which he received the 2001 Native Artist Fellowship, as well as the Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, the Plains Art Museum, Fargo, The British Museum of Art, London, and the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis. His work is in the private collections of Winona LaDuke (White Earth, Minn.), James Rosenquist (Aripeka, Fla.), Mason Riddle (St. Paul), Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith (Corrales, N.M.) and Thomas Arneson (Minneapolis).”

Star has expressed a keen interest in art since a very young age. He remembers his father, Frank Big Bear, starting him out on colored pencils at the age of five. “I’ve been playing with colored pencils ever since,” he said.

With the NACF Fellowship award, Star plans on visiting family at both the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. His intent will be to learn more about Arapaho and Lakota Sioux culture and visually translate his experience through art.

Star has a signature style that skillfully marries pop cultural references and symbols with classic Native American imagery. Add a dash of his humble personality and incredible artistry and a Star Wallowing Bull masterpiece is made. Surprisingly, Star received no academic art training, though he did have the fortune of having mentors like his father, Frank Big Bear, and Grand Forks-born 20th century pop art godfather James Rosenquist.

Star first met Rosenquist by chance at The Plains Art Museum in 2005. Rosenquist received his honorary doctorate from North Dakota State University that year and the reception was held at The Plains Art Museum. The curator at the time, Rusty Freeman, introduced the two and naturally they started talking about art. Rosenquist was so intrigued that he left his own party to visit Star’s studio, which was housed in his efficiency apartment located directly next door to the museum.

At the time, Star did not realize Rosenquist’s role in the art world. He thought Rosenquist was some poor old farmer from the outskirts of North Dakota. When asked what sparked Rosenquist’s interest in his work, Star humbly replied, “I’m not too sure what he ever saw in my art. Next time I talk to him, I’ll have to ask.”

During the studio visit, Rosenquist purchased a small “Rez Dog” painting, which became a concept that Star has often revisited. The piece was influenced by the very brief time that Star spent on the Pine Ridge Reservation. He recalled that it wasn’t a very positive experience and remembered seeing a lot of dogs. “They lead rough lives but deep inside they were happy. If humans were more like dogs we would have a much nicer society,” Wallowing Bull said.

Paint hasn’t always been Star’s medium of choice. His original preferred medium was colored pencil, which seemed to accommodate the intricacy of his work. “I was trying to get my paintings to look like my drawings. I couldn’t capture the details with paint right away. It was very stressful.”

Star eventually decided to expand his choice of media to paint for a number of reasons, including through the encouragement of Rosenquist. He learned he could finish an intricate painting in much less time than an intricate colored pencil drawing. He also saw how the excessive use of colored pencils took a toll on his father’s hands. “A 22x30-inch color pencil takes about two months. A painting about the same size takes me less than a month. Plus it's easier on my right hand,” Star said, who also happens to be ambidextrous.

Star’s work isn’t just limited to drawings and paintings. He took on a printmaking residency with local printmaker Eric Johnson of NDSU and the two collaborated on a series of screen prints.

Aside from receiving a generous award from the NASF, Star has been quite busy these days. He is currently preparing for an exhibition at The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, the nation’s only four-year degree fine arts institution devoted to contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts. Star is also preparing for an exhibition at The Plains Art Museum in Fargo for September 2015. Here he will have a display of work from 2007-2015.