Howard Terpning | Greatest Living Western Artist

The spiritual nature of Plains Indians led them to have holy places to which they could go to commune with those spirits that guided their lives or to feel close to what some called the Sure-Enough Father. Native American friends took the artist to such a place on the Blackfeet Reservation south of Browning, Montana. For generations and generations, the Blackfeet had been going into the woods and attaching small offerings to tree trunks and branches. In earlier times these would have been such rarities as eagle feathers or ermine tails or medicine bundles containing items of religious significance. In modern times swatches of cloth are an accepted substitute, respectfully maintaining the custom of ancestors. (We think the dappled woodland setting makes this image distinctive and particularly lovely among Terpning's body of work.)