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Ernie Pepion: |
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Ernie Pepion: |
Ernie Pepion,
Montana, United States,
Buffalo Hunter,
oil on canvas (47" x 52"), 1986"Some of my paintings are inspired by my dreams. I can pow-wow, hunt buffalo, and live my past life in these dreams. They become the other's reality when I put them on canvas."Ernie Pepion was born in 1943 in Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. He served in the Vietnam War in 1965, earning the Army Commendation Medal for his efforts. After his military discharge in 1967, he returned to his homeland to pursue his life on the family ranch. In 1971, Pepion became a quadriplegic as a result of an automobile accident. During his extensive rehabilitation, he met a veteran who introduced him to the visual arts. Pepion went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors from Montana State University in 1984 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1989. He relays, "Painting allows me to be a person beyond the limits of racial prejudice and disability. Art enables me to address feelings that are difficult for me to write or even talk about." Pepion has exhibited his work extensively throughout Minnesota, Florida, South Dakota and Montana. His autobiographical creations are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Plains Indians and the Blackfeet Hospital in Browning, Montana, and the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.
