To render this range of work, Thompson uses a variety of media, including oil, acrylics, watercolor paints and spray paint, as well as pen and ink and Prismacolor markers. His portraits of Crow Indians depict figures of the past in full regalia, edged with contemporary jolts of color and line. Through the family business, the Custer Battlefield Trading Post on the Crow Indian Reservation, Thompson, an adopted Crow, experienced an intimate side of Native culture that he portrays through his work, using diverse expressions in realism, landscapes and abstract designs that draw upon the patterns in beadwork and fabrics he grew up around.

At 36, the artist uses his art to tell stories. Yet the color and geometric forms that emerge from his paintings reflect the crafts and wares that punctuated his formative years. Growing up and working in his parents’ store and restaurant in Crow Agency, Montana, Judd Thompson wasn’t aware of how Pendleton blankets would influence his art. “The selection of Judd Thompson’s work is a lifetime honor – especially significant for a young artist.” “This is not just a blanket design, it’s really textile art, being offered in a limited edition,” says Jeremiah Young, Stapleton Gallery owner and co-curator. Created from his painting “A Horse Called Paint,” a reflection of Thompson’s unique perspective growing up on the Crow Indian Reservation outside of Billings, Montana, the new blanket received its official launch at the Western Design Conference Exhibit + Sale in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in September in a special exhibit of Thompson’s work by Stapleton Gallery, which represents the artist. Pendleton, the iconic 150-year-old Oregon woolen mills, has selected a painting by Montana artist Judd Thompson as the latest subject for a blanket in its prestigious Artist Collection.

Judd Goobey by M. Tompson Lane