Stella Nall
Missoula, MT
Exhibit Year: 2020-2021, 2023-2024
About the Artist
Stella Nall Bisháakinnesh (Rode Buffalo) is a multimedia artist and poet from Bozeman, Montana. She is a first descendant of the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe from the Úuwuutasshe (Greasy Mouth) clan. Her work is informed by her experiences navigating the world, and often centers current issues pertaining to Indigenous identity, visibility and representation.
She graduated from the University of Montana in 2020 with a BFA in Printmaking, a BA in Psychology and a minor in Art History and Criticism.
She now lives in Missoula, where she is represented by Radius Gallery. She currently serves as a member of the Western Montana Creative Initiative’s Indigenous Art Advisory Committee and the COHESION Art Collective Advisory Committee.
Publications featuring her work include Word Dog, Scribendi, Cutbank, Denver Quarterly, McClain’s Printmaking Catalog, Montana Quarterly, The Thalweg, Stray, and Poetry Northwest.
Her work may be viewed as murals across Montana, as well as in national public collections, including The Montana Museum of Art and Culture, The Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian, and The IAIA Museum of Contemporary
Native Arts.
Artist Statement
My work often draws inspiration from the land in Montana and the wonderful creatures here that we share it with. This piece celebrates the rabbit, a gentle and familiar animal that may be found all across the state. In addition to being objectively ~so cute~, rabbits are significant to many of the Indigenous people in Montana. One of my favorite Crow dances is Iischilissúua (Rabbit Dance). Rabbits also have a special place in my heart because for nearly all of my adult life, I have had the honor of living with a floppy-eared rabbit named Høgi who I love dearly.