Goggles featured at Multicultural Center

To conclude the artist of the month series at Montana State University-Northern's Multicultural Center in Spring 2017, the guest artist in April is Justin Goggles.

Goggles is presenting a pencil collage including the pieces "Her First Ride," "Let Her Fly," "Spirit," and "Northern Rodeo Team."  

Goggles said he only paints as a hobby, adding, "it is a very relaxing activity."

In short, he said, "all my grandchildren inspire me."

Goggles said one of his preferred themes is animals, primarily horses, perhaps because he was raised on a ranch on the Wind River Reservation in Wind River, Wyoming, a member of the Northern Arapaho nation.

Goggles served for several years in the U.S. Army military and served as a police officer in Browning.

Goggles said "Her First Ride" was inspired thanks to his granddaughter Aiyanna.

He said "Northern Rodeo Team" is about Montana State University-Northern rodeo team, adding that he has a special place in his heart for Northern since his wife is a Northern student in the civil engineering program. Additionally, he participated in rodeo for several years.

Goggles said he has been drawing all his life, since grade school. He added, "it is just a matter of grabbing a scrap book." He has been the artist of a couple of murals in Browning, where he resided for a few years. One of his murals was at the elementary school, and the other one in the middle school. As for the mural at the elementary school, in 1985, he was a teaching assistant. The mural was part of a project on teaching children how to draw. It was on exhibition for a few years, although no longer because of repairs to the building. It was about a Napi golden eagle representing the school. At the middle school, about 199), Goggles drew a logo representing the singers/drum group of the Buffalo Stone Society. To this date, it is still on display at the school gym.

The MSU-N Office of Diversity Awareness and Multicultural Programs invites local and regional artists to exhibit their pieces, preferably those that have some link to multicultural themes. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 265-3589.