Gary Schildt

Gary was born in Helena, Montana on June 5, 1938 and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation by his grandparents. His early days were spent on his grandparents’ ranch at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, roaming those mountains and the adjoining prairie on his faithful Shetland “Peggy” in the company of his dogs.

He was bent on using his art training to capture the way of life of the Blackfeet people who were fast disappearing. During those years, he set up a studio in a hotel on Main Street in Browning and produced his “Reservation Series”, showing the everyday life of people living in a beautiful, yet harsh environment. The best-known example of work during this period was his painting of “Buttrey’s Bench” which depicted local people sitting and visiting on a bench outside the town’s one grocery store.

He was an original exhibitor at the very first Charles Russell Auction in Great Falls, Montana and continued to be chosen to exhibit there until only the last few years. He was a founding member of the Northwest Rendezvous of Art group and later painted with the Plein Aire Painters of America on Santa Catalina Island.