Closed Captions

William Big Day, a Crow artisan and former art teacher, discusses his research into Crow art history, rock art, and petroglyphs spanning centuries. He shares stories about his grandfather's oral traditions, the Lewis and Clark Expedition as understood by Crow people, and how he incorporates symbols from rock art into his large-scale oil paintings and other works. Big Day explains the spiritual significance of Crow artistic symbols and his approach to teaching Native American art history to K–12 students.

Transcript

0:03 ten Min voices and of our programming this hour we're going to hear from William big day and William big day is an artisan from Crow country we have a really special treat here he works with oil paints watercolor acrylics and Earth paints and he kind of specializes in producing War Shields so we're going to learn a little bit about that and see some of some of the artwork here he was also been an art teacher um he was an
0:27 art teacher for six years he taught grades K through 12 and so if you've worked with kids you know how challenging and fun that must have been for uh William big day so please help me welcome William big day Artisan from Crow country to the Ten of Min [Applause] voices
0:48 hello welcome to they call this place that's what my grandfather would always tell me this is a place for the Abalone hair tie this is the place where the river Crow used to be camping here in these high riches these high riches and so the old people and my grandfather they would
1:13 always talk about this place where it was something that was the creator had given them the hair tie that was given to them and this is for the place they call the and today I I'm very excited here and you know I'm very honored here so as we go on uh I I do a lot of research
1:38 when I was working on my undergraduate my undergraduate studies I was doing the crow art history because there was very little but my grandfather would always share stories with me in the crow language and before when I was younger I never had the opportunity of speaking in this second language
2:00 because the second language was another communication skill for me so that way it took a long time but when I got to got went over to college world I was happened to start learning a new different set of language in a in a communication skill you call it so here
2:22 I am with challenging my new language learning my new language and wanting to be an art major and as I was doing that it took me a while to communicate in this language but later around down down as I keep going you know going to school and you know start practicing my language and
2:47 finally I was able to communicate in that language but many times I was in a library so many times the librarian usually worries me because he would ask me why am I staying in there too late but but uh library was my number one resource because whatever research I do that's where that library was it was always a supportive area for me because
3:11 I was happened to I was happened to receive many more many more materials to learn about and as I was doing that I was happened to started listening to my grandfather's recording because my grandfather used to have a a rear to rear uh recording because my grandfather he was
3:35 born in uh during the 1800s him and my grandma because my my grandfather he was born in uh a town called Bridger and framber because uh General prior wanted to move everybody to that prior town that General prior he's the one that wanted to move everyone because when the
3:58 absor when that first treaty that fort in OB zor they wanted to move all everyone to Prior so my grandfather was born during that period and then not too long his younger brother Henry Henry big day he was born here at the first agency too and they call him the one that borned with the white Calvary they say
4:22 but that was his teasing name but he was born there and so my grandfather had all these stories that he always shared with us but it was in a crow language because after I mastered in my second language it took me a while to translate that language into my language in the crow language and it took me well but after I started visiting with the BM people
4:46 national forest and all those different other uh forestry people so that way I can able to see all these rock art and Rock petography and paintings that's what I was my main thing was so what I did was I started doing all these research in these different areas so for an example uh
5:11 here's a map from from the Yellowstone Mountain the Yellowstone Park all the way to the to the Missouri see what happened was the crow people were uh people of migrating people during summertime during during Springtime they would always migrate to places and so this is one of the areas
5:36 they call it Bena this is where the Bona P was because every year there was a flood that comes in so that's why they always have that they always camp on the High Sight they said so that's why they call it the Bena P here and then the the name that after years down the road then they
5:59 then the the name of that the headband the Abalone headband was found here they say but uh during those time so when I was studying that in those areas so I started going through all this area to locate the pector graph and pectra drawings because when I became a art
6:22 teacher for kindergarten and 12 gers I was talking about the crow art history because I they wanted to know more because the only artists they know was Rim Bram and Donald Leonardo you know those are all Europeans I said no you know you need to you know understand the
6:44 the native art people you know the were come from here you know the in the United States so what we what I did was during my lectures during my teaching my usually I what I do is I test test them with the Native American artists here or the areas where they've been learning
7:05 about because the the environment of this art art history was part of their part of their gift and finally you know during my first two like my second year finally everyone started to realizing what I was trying to communicate with that classroom so what I did was I
7:28 started making more Shi because uh these War shields were made out of the elk and so this elk gr height was part of the warshi and so what I did was I started working with my students about how the Cur style of making these War Shields so
7:51 these War shields were simply cut the height and shave the hair and let it dry for so many days until they're like hard as an iron and so what happened was that was simply that and then all my students were like you know not
8:14 realizing what was the significant of the symbol and it was a significant of this symbol was the significant of protection and that was part of their guidance because the Creator uh what he did was gave him knowledge gave him spiritual guidance and so that's why they have these War Shields
8:39 during those days during those times so when I was started doing that I started getting into it so that's when I started started bringing out my studies of rock art the PPH and pector graph drawings and so what I did was I started combining ING with my artwork and study
9:02 studying the rock art so any kind of a art rock during that time for 200 500 thousands of years ago my ancestors what they did was it was part about their art history uh during that time when they were studying about these rock art it
9:25 was part about their symbol the symbol of bravy the symb of guidance you know there was part that they protects with and as they were using these rock art it was part about the significant of their symbol so so when I was sharing my
9:47 students with these War Shields and then and then it started happening for them and it was working for them and what happened was after they started Ed realizing what they have in these areas so what I do is I start making lectures on these pector
10:10 graph drawings because it's been quite a few years when I was studying about these pector graph drawings because there were so many areas in these where the crow people were migrating and where the summer migrating and or during the buffalo hunting or or elk season you know during those days that's what they
10:34 they've been studying about but that's according to my language because after we become bilingual we were able to talk about these areas where it was part about their uh religion I guess for them it was a religion for them it was something that they
10:57 respect and then so what I did was was I started combining these rock art into my paintings and it was part about my studies putting it together this one is called a uh this one and the abstract one some of my students were able to to see the differences and we were doing our
11:22 comparison so I was sharing them this was comes from a a rock art and a song when during a time when when the river crows and the center Lodge people Mountain Crow they were all getting together in a town called Billings they were getting together in
11:45 Billings and as one Elder started singing he said you know you're coming to a place where the creator has given you this song he said the white weasel is going to sing his song and so as he was singing his song and this is part about the painting and so that's where I started doing that with
12:09 my students and that was something for my students you know it was very exciting for them this one I call it my red bear during the time when the mountain Crews were up in a they were up in a uh there was a small town called WTI the East
12:31 entrance of Yellowstone Park up on that high mountain on the top they camped there they said there was a 100 100 tepes there the mountain crows you know they were appreciating the gift during that early in the spring so what happened was in those days when they were up on that rich the
12:55 highest rich and so the old people they were they were giving thanks to the Creator and one one gentleman from the river Crow here went over to the mountain crows because he was married to a mountain Crow woman and they said hey your brother-in-law he's coming over here to the to the high
13:15 mountains so he he said uh he seen a boat and everyone was a boat you know in our language he says he says Basha it's a wooden thing it's got cloth on there he said whatever it is he said that wooden cloth that wooden boat in that
13:39 cloth every time when that wind changes it picks it up it moves down that River he said us us River crows we see a we see a wooden wooden thing that's floating in that River he said he was all shock and uh the people the mountain Crow they said wow did you see what is in there and he said yeah he said I seen
14:03 some good horses you know us crows we like good horses so you know the first thing he seen he wasn't paying attention to the people but he was paying attention to uh the thir bread come from England and they realize the Queen of England gave some horses to Louis and Clark they have good horses so the crows
14:26 they said hey yeah yeah that's good then you know but they they didn't see those people in a boat because he they when they went back to the when the elders were talking he said maybe we could go and see more he said ah every morning just soon as Sunrise comes up there was a lady jumps in the river swims back
14:50 down he goes back home but they didn't know who it was but the crow people they said they thought it was a frog lady uh sa AIA you know they thought she was a frog lady because every morning she'll jump in the river and swims back down and they said hey that guy whoever that person is you know every morning she jumps in that Creek swims off I don't
15:15 know why so this Crow guy this guy goes this River Crow guy he said yeah come on you guys let's go and check see what's going on more so these Mountain crows you know they say wow this coming fall we're going to need some good siiz elk so we might use those horses good good so this boat same thing again towards
15:38 evening they were all up on this High Rich this High Rich out here the high Rich they were all sneaking up and in that boat again and then they were waiting they said let's wait and when that morning star comes up we unload all those horses yeah yeah so so loose and CLK and his other buddies you know all
16:01 his people they got off from that boat I guess they were doing Expedition areas in this area so these Crow guys Mountain crows they come over and they all waiting for that morning star soon as that morning star showed up they all went in that water here they call it that's uh Yellowstone River you know
16:25 we call it the the Elk River uh the mountain cross they said uh the Elk River were going to go in there and get closer so they did boy these nice looking horses Bo you know they were tall horses and so they unload them all those horses from the boat and they brought it to the land and they said you want to camp here they
16:47 said in this flat area they said no the river Crow guy he said no get him out of here take him to the mountains you know and so they took all the horses they're good horses you know the the the THS I guess during those days but they said they were tall horses and they were the best ones they said when they were doing their buffalo season you know that's
17:12 what they use because they took them all home and then soon as the Sunrise he said all these little bitty wooden things coming out and they were yelling and here they were yelling who are the horse thief who saw the horse thief you know but uh we were we were the ones I guess after 200 years later I confess you [Laughter]
17:37 know that was a good conu you know but the crow people you know we we say that was a kungu that was a good conu because it was all different when that boat had canvas like this you know and they said it's got something on there every time that wind that wind comes in you know then that wooden thing start floating
17:59 around and it was pretty amazing to them and and so during those days you know in this area when they were on those High riches they would always pay attention and as as during those days you know when I was doing my studies in those areas there was an old guy named Sue Connor he's about 80 90 years old
18:23 these an archaeologist in these areas back in 1950s during the 40s Sue Connor and uh Lauren dorf those two guys you know they're about 80 90 years old they used to do a lot of expedition here so I was happened to I was pretty lucky that time I met up with that Su Connors and I I asked him about that I
18:46 said hey my grandfather had stories like this and so him and I were comparing stories you know because that time I was in uh uh University of Wyoming I was doing my uh uh masters of Fine Arts out there so as I was you know doing those studies because usually every year the archaeologist they they have a big Gathering there and so that's when I was
19:10 happened to be in that right moment to to be a part of that and it was good so as I was doing my studies on these rock art then I started putting into these abstract forms the the essence of that art from that art rock the rock art so what I did was I started paying
19:32 attention to more of that rock art but what happened was the reason why Louis and Clark got involved in my studies all these archaeologists and all these sinologists they had studied in those areas because they had evidence in that Pomp's pillar but we call it
19:56 the this Ma that Wooden Boat was there they said I don't know what he's doing they said but he for some reason see those days it has to be a shaman or somebody important that carves the carves the wall and they said this guy he carved the wall you
20:19 know he had no cigarette no you know he didn't talk to the Creator but he went ahead and carved it why is he doing that they said the crow people that's what they said and but you know that's why I my during my studies that's where I what I run into and it was very important but the old people you know during those days it was something new new discovery
20:44 it was something new expression when he got off from that boat and you know he had all these soldiers and as he was doing that and then so what I did was I started working with these colors and what I did was I started adding symbols symbols of these animals
21:06 the animals of what we believed in back home and a lot of times my parents are still very traditional people and sometimes when I come over to visit this area I I tell them US river crows we I come to visit the river crows here you know so I come over here and visit
21:30 people here I say and they laugh because you know they they consider themselves as a center Lodge people now you know uh and what I did was I started working with that and then these paintings that I've done it was part about the the expression the the expression of abstract I guess according to the
21:53 Europeans they call it the abstract expression artwork they call it you know whatever that comes from the heart or the mind you know like uh Picasso a lot of the revolution war he does you know he expressed himself on those paintings you know it was more detail but for here in this America we do the abstract the symbolism the
22:18 symbolism of our religion and here are one of the studies a lot of the lot of the crows when they they were were studying about their symbols of the pector graph or the ple drawings it was part
22:40 about during during Sundays when you go to church the the person opens up a Bible and he prays about whatever it's in a Bible it was written it was written so that's why they call it the Bible it was written from the from the new religion new
23:02 testimony all those were written during those time so the crow people this is our Old Testament this is our religion this is our our art religion and so as they do that there was symbols symbols of The Bravery The Bravery is pulling the a
23:27 gift back home and then this is called the the shaman the shaman is looking over the man while he's pulling a gift to home it was a gift and then the great
23:51 Buffalo the Buffalo the Buffalo Society one time I I my dad and my client uncle back home we still have our client uncles they say uh kingship they call it uh my kindlings you know my little niece nephews you know I have some uncles back home I asked them I
24:15 said you know what do you mean you know by that symbol it was meaning of a a a wise man A wise man during those time and it was a gift it was a gift from the Creator he said so what they do is they symbolize thems in those great way and that's how they share with me my uncles
24:38 CLI uncles and they say this Society was all breaking down you know during a time when maybe you heard it before the the crow people we were happened to all died off when the small pox got to US during the time of the during the
25:01 1800s many of them there used to be during that period during the 1800 periods we were pretty close to 15 to 20,000 of Crow Indians because of this uh the riffer crows the center Lodge people Mountain crows the Black Lodge all the way to the borderline of Colorado we were all there the black
25:23 lash people were there and they said one time we had this small pox and we all died off they said and so what happened was the very number one thing was the rock art the rock art was very important for the old people because that was part about their belief that was their
25:45 healing healing of Art and so what happened was as they were moving along the great Shaman talking to the assistant shaman that was the symbol of his communication in that way of that spiritual way and as they were moving
26:09 on the great man the great man that the eternity that Circle The Eternity of life of a human man he said he said I come to give you that gift because I'm a Healer he says uh I guess a medicine doctor like you go to to the clinic like you go to dentist or uh the different
26:34 kind of surgeon like you you have a CO and you go to this doctor and you go to him and he'll say I'm a doctor I can find whatever the either the head co or sore throat or something you know but those days those days the crow people that's how they symbols that's how they draw theirself and he said I'm a great
26:57 man of a good healing he said so that's why the eternity of life but if donello or Leonardo they'll put Halo they put Halo on that but cro Indians this is how they represent themselves as this symbol this great circle of eternity life this one I call it my grandmother's
27:21 Dream It's on a oil paint it's uh six feet by 5 feet long when I was an undergraduate my art history teacher he tells me he said Mr big day you got to do a research on cro Indian art because of that oil pain this class I took it's called the lecture lecture and research they call it this it's a it's a
27:45 beginning class and so I went over to uh musle shell uh mstone the boom Mountain they call it uh when I was doing I went over to the BLM and I visit with them I said you know uh I like to do some studies here so I went out there and during the time when the first small pox came to
28:08 the crow people the first thing what it got was the children the children were all dying off and so what they did grandmother went up to the high mountains to the high hills the boo Mountain he went up there all to these high places and asking for a good healing for his children and this this new upcoming sickness they don't know
28:31 how to get rid of that new sickness they said and so all this rock art it's about 20t 20 ft across 20t down and all this hand painting was there all in a small baby hands in red pain in red pain and so I come home I
28:54 come home I brought that home I shared it with my people first I talked to my dad I talked to my clan I said you know why is that and so they explained it in a crow language that what I was speaking in English and so what they did was he said all the grandmothers were worried during that time so it was part about
29:18 their healing of that rock art this one is called going to parade it's on watercolor so a lot of times many many areas that so this the significant of a woman
29:41 uh like the queen when he described herself she has all these diamonds and she's got this diamond wand and she's all pretty with pretty dress so down those rock art what happened was the Cru Woman This Is How They draw himself in a in the rock art when they're doing prograph or petlift drawings that's how
30:05 the croww woman described himself there was an area way back in uh there's a small town called uh Power whelming in that area there was a cruel woman described herself in a rock art like this and then this one is called my
30:30 charging boo so charging boo in my painting this is a 6 ft by four feet painting oil painting and uh charging boo what I did was I compare I compare my painting my oil painting in that way of that formation of the the style that Contour style back to the Europeans you
30:53 know back to Picasso and leonado donello you know the the drawings the drawing were contour drawings fulfilling the colors but according to Picasso study he said the native had the Contour before before time he says before his time during the time of their study and then leado Donal that's what they were all
31:17 saying he said the native people were the one to bring the Contour concept and so that was just about in the European art lectures you know during those days days but according to the crow people this style it comes from the rock art there was no uh
31:39 impressionistic or you know new age style you know it's not like that but it was something that's all original because it's inside of us so every time when I'm doing some work either you'll turn out to be very abstract or very colorful with the paintings and so many many
32:03 times I've argued with my instructor they're expecting a crow guy to do a detail work it's not Insight me but I'm learning that that's part of the the tradition tradition art that we go through this one is called the couple
32:24 going home this one is in uh out in Helena because in Helena I did a lot of research there too because during that time my grandfather he said the the what did they call the continental divide the Continental Divide in those areas they call it the among the
32:47 mountain among the mountain and all the the newly wood I guess that's where they go honeymoon but but the new uh they say couples during that time they write through there because it was a it was a gift so that way when they turn back and they look at over here to the river Crow
33:10 they look over here and they say yes you know thank you they say among the mountain thank you you know but that's one of them this is another uh 6 feet by 5T oil painting too this one I call it the BP spiritual this is a lithograph yeah a lithograph
33:32 they call it uh it's uh unlimited and what I did was I started working on it and so my instructor when I was a undergraduate at MSU billings I was an undergraduate so I asked my instructor I said you know wh why how can I express myself you know so we were asking we were doing compare compare contrast and
33:56 so he he came up with with this uh man named uh a guy from but he was a nardis he was an abstract expressionist him and Picasso met together because he was from be right so he wanted to learn about abstract expressionist so this Mt artist met with pakaso and both were arguing about this
34:20 abstract expressionist so you know can you imagine about me too you know this 20th 25th Century you know arguing with an instructor me trying to be somebody that I was you know I'm already here and so what I did was I started creating this comparing with my rock art again this I call it my bisp spiritual this is when when they say the old people they
34:44 say when when a man is in a battle or when a man is serious with his preparedness he turns into half animal and half man so that way he has good home or bring back good things and so that's that's what they call a bisp spiritual same thing with this one what
35:08 I did was I ran into this rock art this pector graph drawing what happened was see usually us Crow people we are very very respectful what we did was we at make offering we make offering to the to this land and to this air to the skies you know and to this mountain and what
35:31 it did this is talks about this man the Creator came came from his soul and as he he came out from there he started helping him with his enemies and how powerful himself how he described himself and here's another one they call it I guess the Europeans
35:56 they call it the aity the great Shaman I I don't know that but but the people they call that the great Shaman so he described himself with the the younger people and as the the younger people or I should say the little people he talked to him he said I
36:18 am I am the master of you you know and so as he was doing that he this is how he described himself in that symbol and here's more during a time when warriors were out hunting maybe a lot of men when you go elk hunting or deer hunting or
36:43 antalope hunting or gone fishing you want to talk to your creator you know hey Creator yeah help me out with my hunting but this is what it talks about during his hunting season he was out going out hunting and he they gave him this dream where to go on this mountain so this is how he
37:05 receives this message the the medicine rapbit you know the medicine rabbit was part about the during those days when there was one one time they said this land was all dry no water no flood no no plants growing and they said you you know the Creator he
37:29 said to the shaman he said what have I've got you know he said I have nothing and he said the mountain you you people you go to the mountain and you give thanks give thanks to the to this upcoming weather so he he they went up there and he said you know what do I feed my people he said the great rabbit
37:53 is going to come to you and it was part about our food areas to too and so this is how it was represent in his way of during the hunting time the
38:16 wolf so if if there's any questions or anything that you know you would like to ask you know if you do have a question please just raise your hand and uh we'll get a uh okay here we go we'll get a microphone to
38:38 you I I'd like to ask um what it is that um inspires you to do such huge mural siiz paintings the reason why is uh the reason why I do these large paintings were freedom of expression this Freedom expression you express yourself you know to be a part of that
39:03 painting uh it comes from being a part of the rock art during those days they weren't Bond or they weren't yeah they were freedom freedom of their their way of their style and so that's where I got the influence in my studies that's
39:25 why we have another question here okay uh where can you view these paintings and are they for sale or what yes yes yes they are for sale yes yes yeah uh well very good prices yes come on over to this building
39:49 yeah yes they are yes uh see what I did was many times I I taught in a summer school in a Pima tribe I went to the Puma School in uh State of Arizona because they needed some Native American Indians to give Art lectures out there as as a cro Indian and they wanted to
40:12 listen to the way how we express our artwork and so that's why I I was happen to have that opportunity to go over there to share with the here in the state of Montana of how we express oursel in the art World okay see yeah hold
40:36 on where are the actual paintings then where are the actual paintings oh the actual paintings yeah there's I got some I got some in this uh building uh and then the other one I got some at uh University of Billings monana at that University they have a 7 feet by 7 feet oil Paine there and uh and then the
40:58 others were in a permanent uh areas were in state of Arizona yeah and then some in Washington DC and so they're all in 7 feet by 7 feet okay we can do uh we'll do one more um could you tell us more about your beautiful horse brooch your PIN oh yes yes like uh earlier earlier I
41:23 was sharing with the symbol the symbol of the significant of who I am or what I do I become part of the horse Society because during those days I just confessed earlier about stealing loose and Clark Sy breads you know my ancestors were one of them so you that's why I have this significant of this
41:48 horse and but I got some more horses for seale yes well yeah I think unfortunately we're about out of time but let's give William big day a big round of applause for that program and I think we all know just a little bit more about Crow art history
42:12 thanks to your efforts and of course if you do want to talk with William Moore and see some of these works I think it's the home show building that you're set up in so kind of make your way over there and then you can get a look up close and personal at these fine pieces of art um and just some other things to let you know we have about 15 minutes till our next program is going to begin and in a a rare kind of event it's not going to be in the tent it's going to be
42:36 kind of straight behind me to the left of the TP we're going to have um Mr garrettson there with Stone Age Technologies so you're welcome to join him his program is going to last a little bit longer than the programs in here it'll be about an hour and 15 minutes and it's quite a performance along with many Hands-On things many props so you're welcome to join Mr garrettson with stone age Technologies almost right under the tree to the left
43:01 of the tee um because that program does run over I also want to let you know about our six o'clock program it's still going to happen in here and so if you were wanting to follow the trail of Lewis and Clark plants with Ranger Mary Ellen uro she will be in here at 6 o'clock and start that program so I unfortunately I have to leave it up to you as to where you want to be because being in two places at the same time is really tough but that's what's going to
43:24 go on and of course please enjoy everything else around us we have lots of food vendors we have lots of Artisans with items for sale we have lots of little exhibits around here to explore take advantage of it all and like I said if you want to see William big day talk to him a little bit in person see his artwork firsthand make your way to the home show building so thank you once again for being great audience and
43:46 [Music] uh

Tent of Many Voices

William Big Day on Crow Art and Rock Petroglyphs

William Big Day

Crow

43:51

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William Big Day on Crow Art and Rock Petroglyphs

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