Topic Description:
Monica will describe her journey from teaching herself how to paint in her kitchen in 2019 to eventually having solo shows and participating in group exhibitions throughout Montana and the Western United States. Monica will also describe her process in creating a painting, including the research she engages in when starting a painting and how her portraits help to highlight Indigenous women and their histories.
When: Thursday, October 12, 2023, online at Noon MST
Where: Online
Register here for the online event: https://form.jotform.com/232705480154149
Cost: Free
About the Artist:
Monica Gilles-BringsYellow is a self-taught Indigenous artist born and raised on the plains of Montana. In Monica’s paintings, she draws on her background of being an Indigenous Montanan to tell the stories of Native American women and the landscapes they come from. Monica incorporates her cultural knowledge with a layered amalgamation of various techniques, combining inks, gold leaf, and resin with portraits of Indigenous women to present the viewer with a visual history of the connection between people and place.
Monica primarily focuses her portraits on Salish family members, relatives, and ancestors but also incorporates friends and family from other tribes with permission. Monica hopes her art provides Native American representation and tells the stories of Indigenous resilience and brilliance.
Monica's paintings have been in numerous exhibitions and solo shows throughout Montana and the Rocky Mountain West, including the C.M. Russell Art Auction, Radius Gallery (Missoula, MT), The Brinton Museum (Big Horn, WY), KALICO Gallery (Kalispell, MT), Emerson Center for Arts (Bozeman, MT), Arts Council of Big Sky Auction, the ZACC (Missoula, MT), Head Waters Foundation (Missoula, MT), Missoula Art Museum Auction, Big Sky Art Auction, as well as having commissions at the Montage Hotel (Big Sky, MT) and The Meadowlark (MT), as well as several Traffic Signal Boxes in Missoula.
When Monica is not painting, she is a therapist for children.