Rec Sports
Pipestone National Monument to host artists-in-residence
Jeff Reddoor demonstrates his stone etching work. He’ll be at Pipestone National Monument May 24 through May 30 as part of the Monument’s artist-in-residence program. Contributed photo Jeff Reddoor will be the first of four Indigenous artists who will share their work at Pipestone National Monument this year as part of an artists-in-residence program. Reddoor […]


Jeff Reddoor demonstrates his stone etching work. He’ll be at Pipestone National Monument May 24 through May 30 as part of the Monument’s artist-in-residence program. Contributed photo
Jeff Reddoor will be the first of four Indigenous artists who will share their work at Pipestone National Monument this year as part of an artists-in-residence program. Reddoor will display and demonstrate his work from May 24 through May 30.
Reddoor said he comes from a family of artists and he’s been making art as long as he can remember. His art has included oils, acrylic, pen and ink, earrings, key chains, wood carving, stone etching and more.
“I’ve done all kinds of art, but what my passion has been the last several years and what I enjoy doing the most is wood carving, and I carve fish, I carve trout,” Reddoor said.
Reddoor uses primarily basswood and red cedar for his trout, which he said take hundreds of hours each. He paints some of them with great detail to make them look as authentic as possible. He also carves rocks from cedar to look like the river bottom under the fish and pinyon pine for stands to hold the fish.
“I love the look of pinyon pine,” Reddoor said. “When it’s sanded and shined, it just has this beautiful, raw look to it that really complements the fish.”
Trout are a subject he knows well as an avid fly fisherman.
“I like to go do research work, which means I like to go fishing,” he said with a laugh. “I tell my wife, ‘I’ve got to go do some research,’ and just disappear and go fly fishing all day.”
He said he also enjoys hunting and often hunts stones and wood to use in his artwork as he’s hunting animals.
Reddoor said he plans to demonstrate his stone art while he’s at Pipestone National Monument. He said he uses slate native to Utah, where he lives, that has red, gray and purple in it, and uses a scraper to etch images such as symbols, feathers and wildlife into the stone. He said that work has “more of a southwestern tone” to it.
Reddoor said he also plans to bring a family pipe made of pipestone with him during his visit. He said his family has been the pipe carrier for the Assiniboine Tribe and the pipe has been in his family for around 60 years. His father, Courtney Reddoor, made it and carried it until he died. Then his brother, Stormy Reddoor, carried it, and now he does.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” Reddoor said. “It’s got an eagle’s head on it.”
In addition to making visual art, Reddoor is a performing artist, who plays the guitar and flute. He plans to play some Native flute music while he’s at Pipestone National Monument.
Reddoor’s family is originally from Poplar, Mont., which is on the Fort Peck Reservation. He and his family now live in Fillmore in central Utah, where his wife of 40 years, Tammy, is from. They have seven children, including two they recently adopted.
Reddoor is retired after a 40-year career with the state of Utah, which concluded with him serving as the director of the Utah State Building Board. He said he now spends most of his time making artwork and music, and hunting and fishing.
Other Indigenous artists who will share their work during week-long residencies at Pipestone National Monument over the summer include Holly Young from June 21 to 27, John Knife Sterner from July 25 to 31 and Marlena Myles from August 23 to 29. For more information, call 507-825-5464 ext. 214 or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/pipe. Event details and program schedules will also be posted on the park’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PipestoneNPS.
This is a sample of the stone etching done by Jeff Reddoor, who will be sharing and demonstrating his art work at Pipestone National Monument from May 24 to May 30. Reddoor is from Utah and is the first of four Indigenous artists to be featured this year during Pipestone National Monument’s artist-in-residence program. Contributed photo
This is one of the trout carved and painted by Jeff Reddoor, who will be the first of four Indigenous artists featured at Pipestone National Monument this summer. In addition to wood carving, he does stone etching, bead work and more. Contributed photo
These are some of the earrings made by Jeff Reddoor, who will be the first of four Indigenous artists at Pipestone National Monument this summer as part of the Monument’s artist-in-residence program. He’ll be demonstrating his work there May 24 through May 30. Contributed photo