Tipi raising ceremony at Journey Museum

An aging tipi reaching the end of its lifespan gets a replacement Friday at the Journey Museum.

That happened with a tipi raising ceremony at the Journey Friday morning. The new tipi was painted by local artist Martin E. Red Bear and features a total of 41 horses, no two alike and no two with the same color scheme. The painting is designed to honor all veterans, regardless of race, and each of the shields carried by the riders features a different veteran insignia.

Martin Red Bear says, “It’s not only a piece of artwork, it’s a piece of artwork that tells a story about who people were, not just Native people but all people. In that we defend our country because that’s what we do. We take care of our family, we take care of our tiospayes. Tiospayes means extended families.” Bryant High Horse says, “In Native culture, honoring the veterans is very important. But today, the honoring is all veterans across this nation, all cultures. Is honoring, the way the painting is done by my brother Marty, and that’s a great honor in itself.”.

The tipi is canvas and it was painted with acrylics. Red Bear and his wife started on the project in January and finished up in March.