Sho da gee? (How are you doing?) Hello, my name is Moses Yellowrobe III and I am an artist, a husband, and a father. I am enrolled into the Crow Indian Nation through my mother, but I am also Cheyenne Indian from my father’s side. I have three sons, Sage (15 years old), Lil’ Moses (6 years old), and Caylon Fernando (3 years old). I am married to Diane (Ellenwood) Yellowrobe, an enrolled member of the Nez Perce Tribe in Lapwai, Idaho. With my wife Diane, I have two stepdaughters, Mikailah (15 years old), and Chloe Nicole (7 years old). My wife suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis, and with her condition she inspires me to pursue my dreams. She gives me the strength and foresight to pursue my own small business. She humbles me, but she also helps me to recognize my gift of art. My academic degrees and my drive to start up a small minority business mean more to me than ever before now that I am a husband, and a father, but also a productive representative and educated member of Indian Country.

View works by Moses Yellowrobe here>>

I have loved art ever since I can remember. Looking back into my academic career from kindergarten on up through high school art always came natural to me and I always excelled in it. Growing up in New Mexico I have been exposed to the wonderful world of Southwestern Indian Art. I have been exposed to ancient hieroglyphs in places such as Mesa Verde, the lava rocks around Albuquerque, and the awesome Chaco Canyon. I have seen sterling silver and turquoise jewelry and the process involved with making it, along with observing sand painting from the Dine (Navajo) people, and witnessing the beautiful painted pottery pieces from the various Pueblo Dwelling peoples. An uncle and an aunt of mine also graduated from the American Indian Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM, and that has always inspired myself to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art.

I have many interests and hobbies. I love running and playing basketball. I love hunting and fishing. I am an avid mountain bicyclist, and I love reading. My wife and our daughters and I attend the Pablo Christian Church in Pablo, MT. I am a qualified Wildland Firefighter, and I take part in the fire seasons with Buffalo Bird Waterworks, LLC, based out of Ronan, MT. I am a member of Coup Marks Artists Cooperative in Pablo, MT. I have worked many odd jobs while I have been going to college, and I also work through the Federal Work-Study Program at SKC. I am a member of the American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) Chapter at SKC. I love film, photography, painting, drawing, silversmithing, and of course- welded metal sculpting! I have also become quite interested in computer graphic art and design.

While my wife finishes up her degree in Business Management this year at SKC, I decided to take up the Digital Arts and Design for a one-year certificate at SKC as well. So for the fall quarter of 2008, I will be taking Digital Arts and Design courses, as well as Welded Metal Sculpture, Silversmithing, and Glass/Rock Etching. I plan to take other art related courses after I have my requirements taken care of throughout the rest of the quarters. I feel that this certificate in Digital Arts and Design will ultimately help myself to effectively promote and market my business and my artwork now and in the future.

I have an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration from the Little Big Horn College, our very own Tribal College. From there, I decided to continue working and soon found out about the prestigious film school at Montana State University- Bozeman. I enrolled for two years at MSU-Bozeman until I realized how competitive the program actually was. I always pondered about switching majors to Fine Art, and that was when I found out about the Salish Kootenai College (SKC) on the Flathead Indian Reservation. SKC offered the same art courses that MSU-Bozeman did, and even more. I attended SKC from Fall 2006 and graduated with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts in June 2008.

With the help of my wife, Diane, and she is a Business Management major at SKC, we both decided that she could be a valuable asset in my small art business. Diane works for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Pablo, MT, but more specifically the Department of Human Resource Development (DHRD). Before this job Diane worked in New York for Stewart Title Insurance Company for approximately 8 years total. I decided to start an art business where I created and sold my very own welded metal sculpture art. We both agreed that I will provide the manual labor and design of my art pieces, and Diane will take care of the accounting aspect of the business. We will both take part in the marketing and management of the business. Ultimately we want to make this a family business.

After we both graduate from SKC, I still plan on attending the University of Montana in Fine Art. I have already shown interest by visiting their facilities and meeting some instructors. Although the University of Montana Fine Arts program already insists on every student having a well balanced and broad range of art study and application, I plan of focusing on metal sculpture and getting the most I can out of this program. Further down the road I want to have my degree just in case a teaching position opens up, hopefully at a Tribal College. No matter what, I want to be able to provide for my family, be a positive role model for Indian people, and contribute to Montana’s growing economy.