Sarah Ortegon High Walking will be the first woman artist to represent Wyoming in a national exhibit. The National Museum of Women in the Arts formed the Wyoming Committee last year in order to nominate artists from the state to display their work in Washington D.C.
Out of the five women who were nominated by the committee, the curator chose Ortegon High Walking. She grew up visiting her family on the Wind River Reservation every summer and soon found that the best way to express herself was through art. So she started painting acrylic with beadwork added to it.
She said the bright colors in her work are inspired by nature and that’s what she hopes people get out of her artwork.
“Nature could be very violent at times. But it's also there to help support each other,” she said. “Like the water supports the trees, the birds support the feeding of our predators. And so it's a continuous cycle of regeneration.”
Ortegon High Walking said sometimes it's hard to be taken seriously as a woman artist.
“Even throughout history, there's not a whole lot of women artists that are recognized. But the women that were recognized were very powerful artists. And so it just means a lot to me,” she said.
Her piece will be a painting capturing four different jingle dresses representing the seasons, each appearing to move without being on a physical body. It will be displayed at the upcoming 2024 Women to Watch exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.