DG House’s parents took the family to state parks when she was growing up, igniting a passion in her for the outdoors and an understanding of the interrelationships of all its inhabitants. As a student at the University of Dayton, Ohio, she saw a poster advertising summer work at Yellowstone National Park. She applied, was accepted and more than 40 years later, as an artist in residence at both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, she is presenting 20 of her recent paintings in the exhibition In That Still Moment: DG House. It opens January 12, 2024, and continues through March 23 at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, Montana.
With Knowledge, mixed media (acrylic, charcoal, pencil and ink) on birch panel, 20 x 24"
Commenting on the exhibition, she says, “You can feel what it feels like to be there” in her colorful representations of the parks and their wildlife. As an enrolled member of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama living in Bozeman, Montana, she incorporates an Indigenous sense of caring for the environment and for the oneness with all creatures. She borders the paintings with designs and color patterns from Native art and artifacts. Her mixed media works incorporate acrylic, charcoal, pencil and ink.
With Wisdom, mixed media (acrylic, charcoal, pencil, and ink) on birch panel, 12 x 48"
Her paintings are inspired by real-life events and encounters with the animals of the parks. Driving through Yellowstone one day, a bear wandered out onto the road and sat down, gazing at the artist in her car. Good Medicine, was inspired by that experience.
She paints in the palette of the Rocky Mountain West. The blue of the bear may appear in the mountains or in the hot springs. Painting her blue bears and purple moose, she says she wants “to represent the spirit of the animal.”
Good Medicine, mixed media (acrylic, charcoal, pencil, and ink) on birch panel, 24 x 20"
The omnipresent blue is repeated in her painting, Wonderland, a representation of a hot spring from an elevated viewpoint. It appears again beneath an arrangement of native Yellowstone cutthroat trout displaying their extraordinary colors.
Wonderland, mixed media (acrylic, charcoal, pencil, and ink) on birch panel, 24 x 20"
House says, “As an Indigenous creative, I’ve made it my job to produce art that represents the wildlife and people who don’t often have a voice in our society. I spend a large part of my time with wildlife in the wildlands. Inspiration is everywhere in my world.”
January 12-March 23, 2024
In That Still Moment: DG House
Hockaday Museum 302 Second Avenue E, Kalispell, MT 59901
(406) 755-5268, www.hockadaymuseum.com
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