A large painting called Many Blessing greets visitors as they enter the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery at Rocky Mountain College. The 7 to 8 foot canvas is a collaborative father/daughter effort and serves as the gateway of a new exhibit featuring Kevin and Sunny Sky Red Star.
“It just hangs in our studio,” said Kevin Red Star. ”So whenever we decide to add something or delete something it is always there. It is a fun piece.”
While their styles are very in sync in this collaborative work, their styles are very different when you see them side-by-side on the walls of the gallery.
“I am still portraying the Crow Indians," Kevin Red Star said. "The people that I know and who we are. And Sunny, she does a lot of experimental type things and really fun things.”
Sunny Red Star said her art has lots of color, very abstract, whimsical and loose. And her father encouraged her to just cut loose, if she wanted.
“He told me it is OK to paint from the heart and break some rules,” Sunny Red Star said. “That is what I really love about art. I see art in everything.”
Both artists have a personal connection with Rocky. Sunny attended RMC back in 2000; Kevin received an honorary doctorate from the Billings-based college in 1996.
“I am a battlin’ Bear,” Kevin Red Star proudly proclaims.
The exhibit runs from Jan. 11, 2018, to Feb. 8, 2018, in the Ryniker-Morrison Gallery located in Tech Hall on the RMC campus.
Kevin Red Star said the exhibit is dedicated to Sunny’s sister, Merida, Kevin’s older daughter, who died tragically about 10 years ago.
Sunny said her sister’s death really affected her, it broke her spirit and her heart and she did not paint solidly for about 10 years.
