Jesse DesRosier, Assinaipooyii (Cree Speaker), will feature his Blackfeet Ledger Art, and other items, inside the Great Falls Public Library from the start of January through February 2024.
DesRosier teaches the Blackfeet language using plains sign language, pictographs and written language at the Piegan Institute (Cuts Wood Academy) as well as the Blackfeet Community College (BCC). The Cuts Wood Academy is nationally recognized as a successful and effective model for Native language immersion with a multi-generational approach. It was co-founded in the late 1980’s by the late Darrell Kipp, a Native American educator, documentary filmmaker, and historian Its mission is “to use the Blackfeet language as the tool (not object) of instruction within a local context to produce fluent speakers of the Blackfeet language.”
Jesse attended the Cuts Wood Academy from 1998 to 2003 when he graduated the 8th grade. After completing high school, Jesse served in the Marine Corps from 2007-2011, then he attended the University of Montana (Missoula); where he graduated with a BA in Native American Studies. Jesse is also a former MMA fighter and SAG AFTRA stuntman performing stunts in movies across the country.
Currently, alongside his work as a Blackfeet language instruction, Jesse makes art using traditional pictograph designs along with contemporary images onto antique ledger paper; he tells stories from his personal perspectives as a Blackfeet man with an old soul living on the reservation.
Author: Staff
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