New Pathway Mural Shares Images and Culture from the Wind River Reservation
Jackson, Wyoming: Jackson Hole Community Pathways and Jackson Hole Public Art are proud to announce the installation of a captivating new mural in the Garaman Underpass. The four foot by 80-foot mural was created by Wind River artist Colleen Friday, in collaboration with educator Adrienne Vetter and 5th and 7th grade student artists of Fremont County School District #38.
All are invited to the unveiling of the mural - titled Yeneini3i’ 3o3outei’i | Four Hills of Life - on Wednesday, October 4, 2022 at noon. Enjoy lemonade and snacks in Garaman Park (rain or shine) and join the artists for an official ribbon cutting with Jackson’s Mayor Hailey Morton Levinson at 12:15pm.
The mural represents the Arapaho lifeway of 4 hills of life (yeneini3i’ 3o3outei’i) and is visually divided into four 20-foot sections that reflect Northern Arapaho culture with seasonal and life ways as interdependent to the buffalo. In mythical time, buffalo were human persons and a source of knowledge about the natural world and our movements through it.
In March of 2023, Friday presented Greater Yellowstone Coalition Tribal work on the Wind River Reservation to students. She focused on reservation-wide buffalo restoration efforts and water issues on the Big Wind River. Friday led students in a brainstorming activity as a large group, and students sketched images on long strips of paper and compiled parts of the sketched imagery into a cohesive mural and submitted it to Pathways for approval. Once approved, blank mural panels were transported from Jackson to Arapahoe School, where students collaboratively painted the mural with artists Friday and Vetter during the summer school session.
“The students did their own sketches about buffalo, water, and culture on long strips of paper when we did brainstorming. When it was time to make one design, the Four Hills of Life made sense because it could encompass almost everything that was in the students' images. Being able to create a visual of the Four Hills is meaningful because it represents the Hinono'eino' (Arapaho) lifeway.” Colleen Friday, Lead Artist
The first hill of life is birth/childhood, associated with the color yellow and the direction of east. In the mural, this is shown as when a yellow calf is born in the spring time and the sky reflects colors of sunrise. The second hill of life is youth and is the time of doing, associated with the color red and the direction of south.This is shown in the mural as a summer tipi camp, where bands of people have come together to gather, hunt, and participate in ceremonies and celebrations. In the first and second hills of life, Arapaho people are expected to quietly listen, observe, and learn from those who are older than us.The third hill of life is adulthood, associated with the color black and the direction of west.The third hill is the “age when you give it back” and is the time when we start to give back goods, knowledge, and other forms of value to others. As adults this is the time where we start to speak up and advocate for our community. The fourth hill of life is the elder stage associated with the color white and the direction of north. Arapaho people understand that culture is embedded in our stories and language and elders are at the center as the holders of all knowledge. Although this mural is in a linear format to fit the physical Pathways space, the 4 hills of life–like the seasons– unfold in a circle. Children and elders are seen as close to each other. This section of the mural includes visual references to Arapaho stories about the Bear’s Lodge (Devil’s Tower), seven sister stars (Big Dipper), and the origin of the Milky Way.
“A beautiful aspect of the process was how much our students enjoyed being part of something so much larger than themselves. Murals take the emphasis off the individual artist. It becomes "ours" and about what we can accomplish collectively. Students would come in each day looking forward to see what imagery had been painted by other students and they were excited to see what new part of the mural they would get to paint.” Adrienne Vetter, K-12 Art Teacher
Colleen Friday (Northern Arapaho) grew up near Arapahoe, Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation. She is inspired by abstracted, symmetrical designs and plants, wildlife, and water on tribal lands in Wyoming. Her artwork blends multiple identities of being Northern Arapaho and a scientist with a Masters degree in Rangeland Ecology & Watershed management. She currently works as a conservation organizer for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s Wind River office. Colleen was the Wyoming Arts Councils’ inaugural recipient of the Native Art Fellowship in 2021. Her previous mural works in Wyoming include the Sherman Sage mural in Laramie’s Hidden Figures alley and the “Power, Life, & Healing” mural located at 259 Main Street in Lander.
Adrienne Vetter grew up in Riverton, Wyoming and earned an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. She currently lives in Arapahoe, Wyoming and teaches art K-12 at Fremont County School District #38. She is interested in creative interdisciplinary projects involving social class, cross-cultural organizing, and rural culture.She has collaboratively organized community-based art projects as a member of the Wyoming Art Party and is a past recipient of the Wyoming Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship for her individual studio work. Adrienne completed several murals in Laramie, Wyoming including the “Wild West Social Justice” mural which received a 2019 Fine Arts award from the Wyoming State Historical Society.
Participating Students:
Jessica Amos
Kimora Antelope
Ataliya Antonio-Bell
Hope Armajo
DaiMira Arthur
Samantha Arthur
Roberta Bell
Dai’Ja Blackburn
Jacaisha Blackburn
Joshua Brown
Kencin Brown
LeTavian Brown
Ayannah C’Hair
MaeLena CrazyThunder
Elana Daw
Grayson Daw
Marlito Duran
Maylita Duran
Shyleigh Ghostbear
Shye Goggles
Ismael Guzman
Joseph Headley
Aliyah Hubbard
Jasmine James
Jesse James
Joesph Jenkins
Phillip Killsnight
Terrance Lonebear
Brett Martel
Rayliana Means
Shotenei Monroe
Kaiden Moss
Riley Moss
Kaylum Piper
Biixonoo Quiver
Violet Rhodes
A’mare Shakespeare
Katrina Shakespeare
Senika Spoonhunter
Joel St. Clair
Preshious SunRhodes
Christine Tallwhiteman
Kailyn Timbana
Tae’Onna Timbana
Abby Wadda
Isabelle Wagon
Cadence Washakie
Morry White
Skyla White Antelope
Danielle WhiteBird
Amadaius Whiteplume
Harmony Yellowfox
We worked on the details and I had fun with my friends. My favorite part is the Milky Way with the rivers and the trees. [In an Arapaho story] the Milky Way was created by the buffalo that took a shortcut across the sky and the dust tracks became stars. -Rayliana Means, 5th grade student
Jackson Hole Community Pathways and Jackson Hole Public Art have been collaborating since 2012 to commission murals created by students in collaboration with artists to enhance the Pathways system experience and to give local youth, artists and educators a platform to share their talents with the community.
ABOUT JACKSON HOLE COMMUNITY PATHWAYS
Jackson Hole Community Pathways is the pathways and trails program of the Town of Jackson and Teton County. Since completion of the first shared-use pathway in the Town of Jackson in 1996, the system has grown to include more than 50 miles of pathways that provide safe connections for non-motorized transportation and recreation throughout Teton County and linking to the pathway system in Grand Teton National Park. For more information on pathways, contact Brian Schilling at bschilling@tetoncountywy.gov
ABOUT JACKSON HOLE PUBLIC ART
JH Public Art forges partnerships for the integration of art into any environment to inspire lasting cultural, educational and economic benefits. JHPA is a non-profit organization and our community’s leading presenter of artist-driven projects in public spaces. We place artworks outside traditional venues of museums and galleries to provide access to art for all people.
For more information contact: Carrie Geraci, Executive Director
carrie@jhpublicart.org | 307-413-1474
