Froid Art Students Create War Shirts

Froid’s art teacher Maria Gallegos and the sixth-grade students recently created “war shirts’ at the school.

“The inspiration behind these beautiful war shirts came from the children’s book, ‘ The War Shirt,’ written by a childhood friend, Bently Spang, a Northern Cheyenne artist and author,” said Froid’s art teacher Maria Gallegos.

The Montana-based story is about a young Native American boy who learns the significance and methods of creating war shirts from his grandparents. The boy goes on to create his own artistic version of a war shirt.

Froid art students gained a greater appreciation and understanding of what goes into the making and wearing of such a garment. While the students created personal war shirts, they also learned about indigenous male and female warriors and explored different aspects of Native American cultures, traditions, beliefs and history.

The class viewed videos of honor dances for brave Native men and women in the military.

“My students also learned the various ways of counting coup, the significance of bravery, honor, and achievement, and how individual warriors achieved the status of honor that earned them the right to wear such a significant and empowering garment,” Gallegos said.

The art teacher added, “The students put a lot of time and effort into creating these beautiful, personalized war shirts.”