Gary Schildt grew up on a ranch on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.  Mr. Schildt is a sculptor and painter, who works primarily in oil and watercolor.  A member of the Blackfeet Tribe, Mr. Schildt was educated at City College of San Francisco and the San Francisco Academy of Fine Art.    His work is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution and has been shown at the Museum of Native American Cultures and the National Indian Art Show.  He has solo exhibits at the Montana Historical Society, where his work is also on permanent display, the C.M. Russell Gallery, and in numerous galleries nationwide.

From 1995 to 1997, Gary worked on the Blackfeet Sundance Series consisting of 42 large paintings chronicling the Medicine Lodge Ceremony, or Okan of the Blackfeet Tribe.  The exhibit traveled to museums across Montana throughout 1998.  The paintings will remain as a permanent collection in the the new wing at the C.M. Russell Museum beginning in March 2001.