{"id":523,"date":"2014-01-28T01:27:14","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T08:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=523"},"modified":"2014-02-07T13:58:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T20:58:49","slug":"523","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/01\/523\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Pease, paintbrush storyteller"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ben<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

Ben Pease, shown with some of his works at Mr. A's Fine Art Gallery in Hardin, packs a lot of storytelling into his art.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ben Pease says \u201cLast Good Man,\u201d his many-layered portrait of Crow Chief Plenty Coups, is his signature piece.<\/p>\n

It is the richest expression of a style of painting he calls \u201cAmerican Indian Narrative,\u201d in which a portrait sits in the midst of other images, other media, other forms of storytelling.<\/p>\n

Pease himself has a chief-like bearing. He is tall and solidly built, like the college football player he once was, but at the age of 24 he carries himself with a calm gracefulness, and his habitual smile can be disarming.<\/p>\n

His portrait of Plenty Coups is on display at Mr. A\u2019s Fine Art Gallery in Hardin, along with other of his works. He talks about his paintings with a somewhat distant affection, liking them for what they represent but eager to move on and create something new.

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

In \u201cLast Good Man,\u201d Pease painted an acrylic-wash profile portrait of Plenty Coups on a canvas to which he pasted old newspaper clippings, a map, a bill of sale from a hardware store, a check from Yellowstone National Bank and an old newspaper photo of Signal Peak near Forsyth.<\/p>\n

There are also three antique stereoscope slides showing hunting scenes and Pease\u2019s painting of Plenty Coups’ tepee. In the center of the piece is a map showing the original boundaries of the Crow Reservation, redrawn with red ink to illustrate how the reservation was reduced to its current size.<\/p>\n

\"Last<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

"Last Good Man" is Pease's portrait of Crow Chief Plenty Coups, laid on a canvas thick with stories and historical artifacts.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you get close enough, you will notice that the portrait of Plenty Coups is not entirely opaque; some of the newsprint is legible through the gauze of paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy style is drawing with paint,\u201d Pease says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I get that ghostly effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pease loves it when people stop to take in the emotion of Plenty Coups\u2019 portrait \u2014 \u201cI want them to feel that first\u201d \u2014 then lean in for a closer look when they realize how much is going on in the painting. Sometimes they\u2019ll linger for 15 or 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Then they might start asking questions, about his technique, about Plenty Coups, about Crow history in general.<\/p>\n

\"Margery<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

Ben's grandmother, Margery Pease, did much to nuture his interest in the history and culture of his people.<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s the spirit. Pease learned the history and culture of his people, the Crow and Cheyenne Indians, by listening and talking. History he learned mostly from his grandmother, Margery Pease, whose house in Lockwood is stuffed with Indian art, photo albums and books of Indian history. She didn\u2019t so much teach as tell stories to her children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them didn\u2019t listen,\u201d she says, sitting with Ben in her sun-washed living room. \u201cThis one\u201d \u2014 pointing at Ben \u2014 \u201cliked to talk and ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was inspired to draw by his grandfather, Margery\u2019s late husband Benjamin Pease Jr., who used to create Crow portraits.<\/p>\n

Pease was born in Missoula and lived in Phoenix and Lodge Grass before moving to Hardin in middle school. He started drawing when he was 4 or 5, then got \u201creally serious\u201d about it when he was 10 or so.<\/p>\n

Next to his grandfather, a big influence was Hector Alvarado, who taught art at Hardin High School for 21 years before retiring last spring. Pease says Alvarado gave him the technical skills, \u201call the objective stuff\u201d he needed to advance his work. He also taught him some discipline.<\/p>\n

Pease was still like \u201ca wild little pony\u201d when he met him, Alvarado says, and like many other students, Pease had to endure Alvarado\u2019s \u201cnoon detainments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to watch me eat,\u201d Alvarado says with a laugh. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a pretty sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hector<\/a>

<\/p>

Hector Alvarado, seen here with a couple of his portraits, had Ben Pease as an art student at Hardin High School and now displays Ben's works in his gallery. Alvarado's dream is nothing less than making Hardin a far north version of Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n

After high school, Pease went to Minot State University in North Dakota for four years on a football and art scholarship.<\/p>\n

He is now attending Montana State University in Bozeman, completing a degree in art. He often spends time with relatives in Billings and Hardin, and many of his unsold works are displayed at Alvarado\u2019s Mr. A\u2019s Fine Art Gallery in Hardin, which opened in November.<\/p>\n

The works show Pease\u2019s range and versatility, embracing humor, social commentary, history and Indian culture.<\/p>\n

A portrait of Crow Chief Sits in the Middle is reminiscent of \u201cLast Good Man,\u201d with its portrait of the chief superimposed on a 1955 map of the reservation area, spray-painted bison and a sepia-tone photo of tepees.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful,\u201d which has elicited the most interest on Pease\u2019s Facebook and Instagram pages, shows an elegant Indian woman in a low-cut cocktail dress festooned with elk teeth.<\/p>\n

\""Good<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

Not all of Pease's paintings are of Crow and Cheyenne Indians. "Good Voiced-Crow" shows a member of the Oglala Indian Police. This is a detail of the full painting.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cCrow Fair Visitors\u201d riffs on a B-movie poster image of two white actors hugging in the face of an alien invasion, showing them in Indian dress, with UFOs hovering over a line of tepees. Another, \u201cBuckskin Stormtroopers,\u201d portrays warriors dressed partly in Indian clothing and partly in \u201cStar Wars\u201d battle gear.<\/p>\n

The latter two works highlight an important aspect of Pease\u2019s personality and his approach to his work. He takes his art seriously, but he\u2019s more than ready to have some fun.<\/p>\n

In an \u201cartist statement\u201d posted on his website, Pease lays out a variety of vague and rather pompous pronouncements, then undercuts them with self-effacing commentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a Native American Artist,\u201d he begins, followed in parentheses by \u201cI have my stoic face on at least 80% of the time.\u201d \u201cMy work is currently in a state of flux\u201d is followed by \u201cI am lazy but very talented.\u201d<\/p>\n

After another high-minded statement \u2014 \u201cAs such, I am attempting to acquire supplementary additions to my Creative Influences, by exploring fresh artistic territories\u201d \u2014 he adds: \u201cI really need to make more contacts in the art world. Or I\u2019m screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Crow<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

"Crow Fair Visitors" shows Pease's whimsical side as an artist.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Pease name is big medicine in Crow Country. He is the fifth Benjamin Pease and his 18-month-old son is the sixth. Ben\u2019s great-great-great-grandfather was Bull Chief, whose son was White Man Runs Him, one of Custer\u2019s scouts. His great-grandfather was well known for his beautiful, handmade Crow regalia, samples of which \u2014 including a purse, a gourd rattle and a quiver \u2014 adorn his grandmother\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n

His mother, Linda Brien, has a bachelor\u2019s degree in art and is now superintendent of the Wyola School District. Ben\u2019s grandmother said many family members had the talent to pursue careers in art but decided to follow other paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is where I come from,\u201d Ben says. \u201cI\u2019m proud to come from all this. Very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the works on display at Mr. A\u2019s Fine Art Gallery were created by students of Alvarado\u2019s at Hardin High.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of feel like a conductor of an orchestra,\u201d Alvarado says. \u201cI\u2019ve orchestrated a lot of kids into the world of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

He speaks highly of many of his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, but he acknowledges that two of them, Pease and Allen Knows His Gun, have the best chances of prospering in the art world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like it\u2019s going to be an endless road for them to fame and fortune,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For his part, Pease possesses a quiet confidence about his gifts as a painter. He somehow manages to sound modest even when he says, in answer to a question of where he\u2019d like to find himself in the future, \u201cMaybe five years down the road, being internationally known.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Plenty<\/a>

John Warner<\/p>

In this detail of "Last Good Man #2," Plenty Coups is shown with a chickadee, his spiritual guide, on his shoulder. Pease has painted the Crow chief so many times he says his "hand has a muscle memory of Plenty Coups' face."<\/p><\/div>\n

For now, he just wants to continue telling Native American narratives and perfecting his craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I do a piece, I\u2019m always learning,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m educating myself about my culture and others\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says his technique is to work hard but not to overthink things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t plot it out, sketch it out. I just take a paintbrush and start. It works for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also knows what he\u2019s aiming for, even if he can\u2019t define it precisely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have \u2018it\u2019 exactly,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I\u2019ll get it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Pease says \u201cLast Good Man,\u201d his many-layered portrait of Crow Chief Plenty Coups, is his signature piece. It is the richest expression of a style of painting he calls \u201cAmerican Indian Narrative,\u201d in which a portrait sits in the midst of other images, other media, other forms of storytelling. Pease himself has a chief-like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[74,80,79,75,76,77,78],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-montana","tag-ben-pease","tag-crow-tribe","tag-hardin","tag-hector-alvarado","tag-margery-pease","tag-mr-as-fine-art-gallery","tag-plenty-coups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}