Walks Among the Stars

Additional Information

Dave McGary (1958-2013) was a traditional sculptor who specialized in depictions of Plains Indians done in an accurate historic style. He was born in Cody, Wyoming in 1958 and later lived in Alto, New Mexico.

McGary grew up on his family ranch in Cody, Wyoming, and in junior high began casting jewelry. As a teenager, he met his mentor, western sculptor Harry Jackson, who was then living in Caspar, Wyoming. McGary earned a grant to study bronze making with Jackson in Italy where he spent two years studying. It was here where he learned a variety of casting techniques and studied Renaissance marble carving.

"I couldn't be a painter," he points out, "and paint on a slick surface. I'd have to use a palette knife to give depth to the strokes. Textures and patinas are important in sculpture. The texture creates contrast between the parts of the piece, and the patina highlights the tones. They give a piece the added depth that I need to really show its feelings."

Walks Among the Stars is a one of the rarer of McGary’s sculptures. It is the second bronze in the Native American Women series. It depicts a late 18th-Century Lakota woman displaying her beautiful heirloom star quilt. As the Indian Wars ended and the North Plains tribes faced relocation to reservations, the Sioux women began making patchwork quilts as replacements for traditional buffalo robes. Today, the star quilt is a symbol of prestige, sentiment, belonging and status within the contemporary Lakota culture.

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Please note that the first unframed photo is most accurate for color. Framed photographs are to show the frame and are not color corrected to the painting.

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