Bently Spang's work has been exhibited widely in North America, South America, and Europe.
12 Facts About Bently Spang
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Bently Spang grew up both on and off the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, living in places such as Sitka, Alaska and Portland, Oregon.
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Bently Spang taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from 2007 to 2009 as a full-time Visiting Faculty Member in Video.
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Bently Spang often adds humor to his works to help present these themes to his audience.
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For example, in his sculpture Pevah, Bently Spang used stone and wood to signify the Cheyenne part of him, and he used aluminum to signify the contemporary world.
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Bently Spang collaborated with techno DJ Bert Benally to create the Techno Pow Wow, a mix of rave dance culture with a traditional pow wow.
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Bently Spang claimed that the energy and effortless dancing reminded him of the pow wows at the reservation.
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Bently Spang performed as part of this piece as "The Blue Guy", the tribal chief figure of the future.
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Bently Spang designed a futuristic museum exhibit for the "vit-heut" with "artifacts" molded from the plastic encasings of ordinary modern objects.
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In 2003, Bently Spang won an Outstanding Alumni Award from MSU Billings for "Exceptional Contribution" and a Woodrow Wilson Foundation: Imagining America grant.
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Bently Spang has gained artist fellowships from the Creative Capital Foundation and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
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Bently Spang was one of the eight artists who received the 2017 Artist's Innovation Award from the Montana Arts Council and a 2018 recipient of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation National Artist Fellowship.