Flathead High School art students are getting inspiration and advice this week from a pair of American Indian artists, David Dragonfly and Valentina LaPier.

Dragonfly and LaPier are spending the week as artists-in-residence at Flathead.

On Tuesday in Flathead art teacher Susan Guthrie’s room, students were studying printmaking with Dragonfly, a Browning artist who also is curator of the Blackfeet Heritage Center and Art Gallery in Browning.

Guthrie noted the importance of students working with an artist:

“It exposes our students to professional artists working in their fields. In this case, they learn a little bit about the Native American traditions, art, symbols and history. It’s a multicultural experience.”

Born in Kalispell, Dragonfly grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation.

After high school in 1974, he attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, where he developed his style of printmaking. In 1988, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts  from University of Montana.

Dragonfly’s prints are modern reflections on historical American Indian imagery influenced by his Assiniboine and Blackfeet heritage.

After being a stone carver for several years, he was drawn to printmaking for its ease.

Once Dragonfly hand-pulls a print, his style is to embellish with it with other materials such as paint or ink. He often titles each print with American Indian names.

“I like using the names of people because we didn’t have a written language, it was a pictorial language,” Dragonfly said.

He wanted to continue that pictorial language but connect it with a written language through the title.

For the artist-in-residence project, Guthrie’s students chose as the basis for their designs “spirit animals” that reflected their personalities. In some cultures, spirit animals are believed to enter a person’s life as a guide.

“It makes it personal,” Guthrie noted.

Over in art teacher Susan Supola’s room, students were painting with LaPier, an East Glacier artist.

She taught them about the abstract-expressionist American Indian artist Fritz Scholder, whose blocks of color and gesture-like brushstrokes create movement unusual in traditional American Indian art, which was structured and symmetrical.

“He was the man that broke the mold from Native American artists to be expressive in their work,” LaPier said.

LaPier explained to students that abstract expressionism “is an impression or feeling of what you look like and how you feel about yourself. You can use your culture you can draw from our native culture — just explore that. ‘Abstract’ is a suggestion of who you are.”

After students had painted backgrounds on canvas, she instructed them on how to paint in portrait sketches.

“I’m going to lightly sketch in the shape here,” LaPier said, painting in the form of a head. “See these lines: I’m going to eventually cover up, some I’ll use.”

LaPier is a member of the Blackfeet Nation. Her primary medium is acrylic. Like Dragonfly, LaPier uses her Blackfeet heritage as subject matter for her contemporary paintings.

LaPier sold her first painting at 14 and became a full-time artist in 1987.

“I’m teaching the students today to talk about what their heritage is,” LaPier said. “Talking about other cultures breeds tolerance and consideration to other ethnicities.”

A reception will be held for Dragonfly and LaPier from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Flathead High School art gallery where some of the artists’ work is displayed.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.