Artists inspired to create by North Dakota pipeline protest

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Several artists have been inspired to create art in different mediums by recent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Artists have shown up at the encampment near the Cannonball and Missouri rivers, where people from across the country have gathered to join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's protest over the construction of a four-state, $3.8 billion oil pipeline, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

Musicians, including Joan Baez, Frank Waln and Nahko Bear, have performed at the encampment. Charles Rencountre, a sculptor from Santa Fe, New Mexico, recently arrived at the camp to create a personal tribute to the protest.

Rencountre is creating a sculpture titled "Not Afraid to Look.'' The sculpture is a large abstract form of a man sitting, arms crossed over his raised knees, while he looks toward the Cannonball river and pipeline equipment. It is a replica of one Rencountre made for the Museum of Contemporary Native Art at Santa Fe.

"It means a lot to me to gift this to my people, here along the river,'' Rencountre said. "For most artists, it's about selling art to the elite, and it's in private homes where no one sees it. This is public art, it belongs to the world.''

___

Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com