MISSOULA, MONT.- Fifteen years after dedicating a gallery solely to contemporary Indigenous art and artists, the Missoula Art Museum in Missoula, Mont., is leading the way with bold public programming. The Lynda M. Frost Gallery for Contemporary American Indian Art has featured 41 exhibitions and shown over 80 artists, representing more than 60 Tribal affiliations, since its dedication. This list of artists ranges from the nationally known, like Wendy Red Star (Crow), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Salish-Kootenai, Métis-Cree, Shoshone-Bannock), and Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit, Unangax̂), to regional favorites like Sean Chandler (Aaniiih), Kevin Red Star (Crow), and Corwin Clairmont (Salish-Kootenai). MAM, already an admission-free museum, is breaking down barriers of access to, and increasing the representation of, Indigenous artists.

“This gallery is an activated land acknowledgment. It exerts the authority of Indigenous continuum by providing us with [the] permanent and constant occupation of public space and social consciousness,” said Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos), who exhibited in the Frost Gallery in 2014. “It is a place [where] our ancestors can see themselves, where we can grapple with day-to-day life together and speak to future generations.”

As the museum planned a major expansion and renovation in the early 2000s, director Laura J. Millin considered how the museum could create a long-lasting impact for contemporary Native American artists. Millin met with local Tribal elders and Indigenous artists to ask for feedback on the creation of a new gallery dedicated solely to contemporary Indigenous artists. “The result was a resounding yes,” Millin said. Artists Gail Tremblay (Mi'kmaq, Onandaga), Clairmont, and Quick-to-See Smith were key in these discussions.

With their feedback, the Lynda M. Frost Gallery for Contemporary American Indian Art was created. It is dedicated to honoring the creative and cultural contributions of American Indian people to contemporary art, and to ensuring that Indigenous artists will always have a place to celebrate those contributions. This gallery is a symbol of one of the museum’s commitments to amplifying American Indian artists, community members, and populations. The gallery is named for Frost, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that historically inhabited the Missoula valley.




It is important to note that while MAM has this dedicated space to American Indian art, artists with Tribal affiliations or heritage are not confined to that space. At least a dozen additional exhibitions mounted in other galleries focused on or featured contemporary Indigenous art since the Frost opened in 2006. Selections from the Contemporary American Indian Art Collection (CAIAC) feature prominently in many MAM collection shows.

The idea of a dedicated collection was planted in 1997 following a seminal gift of two prints by Quick-to-See Smith from the artist. The next year, Quick-to-See Smith pledged a gift of a large portion of her printed oeuvre. This gift laid the foundation for the CAIAC, and Quick-to-See Smith said that she was “putting a stake in the ground” with her gift to reclaim space in her native homeland. So far she has donated 33 of her artworks, and the Museum has acquired 13 additional works via purchases or other gifts. Today, the CAIAC contains over 250 artworks and is the most sought-after part of the collection, with frequent requests for loans to other institutions. In addition, MAM holds the largest collection of contemporary Indigenous art in the state of Montana and the largest collection of Quick-to-See Smith’s artworks of any museum.

Since the dedication of the Frost Gallery, the Museum has focused programming specifically related to Indigenous art. “The gallery catalyzed our commitment to showcasing and supporting Native American artists,” MAM senior curator Brandon Reintjes said. “The Frost is more than just a space to hang art, but a place to gather, listen, share, and learn.”

In 2017, MAM began hosting Indian Country Conversations, a series of public discussions aimed at providing a platform for research, innovation, and traditional knowledge by American Indian artists, scholars, researchers, and advocates. This series quickly became the most popular event at the museum, often with standing-room only. Exhibiting artists feature prominently in these events, and topics range from Native language revitalization to depictions of the West in historical pop culture.

Programs like this—all offered for free to the public—are buoyed by the presence of the Frost Gallery and the exhibitions it houses. An Indigenous artist will continue to be a focus of the museum’s annual free field trip program for elementary school children, exposing a new generation of makers and art lovers to these important artists. For many Native American students in Missoula and the surrounding areas, this may be their first visit to an art museum. This representation within an art institution reminds young Indigenous people that their stories and perspectives are valued. “For too many years, Native artists and our way of being has been put into anthropology sections or museums and [we are seen] as something from the past. A dedicated space ensures that our voices are current,” artist Melanie Yazzie (Diné) said of the gallery.

Neal Ambrose-Smith: č̓ č̓en̓ u kʷes xʷúyi (Where Are You Going?) is a multimedia exhibition on view in the Frost Gallery through February 2022. As museum staff plan for future exhibitions and programming, the Frost Gallery is at the forefront of blue-chip content. Shows with Marie Watt (Seneca) and Raven Half Moon (Caddo Nation) are slated for 2022 and 2023. While the national eye is just beginning to focus on contemporary Native American art, the Missoula Art Museum has over 15 years of experience centering Indigenous artists as driving forces in the arts ecosystem.