Four Generations:
Iikua Biluxbakush (Self Reliant, Amy Bright Wings Red Star)
Báakoosh Kawiiléete (Kind to Everybody, Wallace Red Star)
Baaeétitchish (One Who is Talented, Wendy Red Star)
Apitebía (Sandhill Crane Woman, Beatrice Red Star Fletcher)

The faces of four generations of an Apsáalooke (Crow) family add complexity to the geometry of a star quilt pattern. Star quilts are highly prized by the Apsáalooke and are often gifted at powwows and in ceremonies. To the artist, the connections between generations are precious, like this quilt.

The young girl at the top right is Red Star’s grandmother, Iikua Biluxbakush (Self Reliant), in an iichíilihtawaleiittaashte (elk tooth dress), a sign of her family’s hunting and trading expertise. The artist, whose Apsáalooke name is Baaeétitchish (One Who is Talented), made this work for her daughter, Apitebía (Sandhill Crane Woman), at lower right, as an “alternative record” and “genealogy for her and her future kids.”

Red Star grew up on the Crow Reservation in Montana, a place that she says was so culturally rich that she didn’t realize they were economically poor. Throughout her artistic career, she has conducted research in historical archives and museums to reassemble the “suppressed and buried timelines” of her family and the Apsáalooke people, piecing together their images, objects, and stories like a quilt to gift to future generations.