Fifth-grade Russell essay contest winners honored

A lot has been written in the last 45 years — more than 37,000 essays — about reasons fifth-graders like western artist Charles M. Russell.

But fifth-graders have a lot more to say, and with new English and language arts standards in place, students across Cascade County were instead prompted to write essays explaining why they believe CMR is an important figure.

"After 45 years it was time to give it a more contemporary look," said Ruth Uecker, assistant superintendent for elementary schools in Great Falls. "With this prompt we hoped it would generate more creativity and free thought."

The result of that was two winning essays from Amanda Joyce of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Brady Drummond from Belt Elementary, who both read their essays at the 45th annual Charlie Russell Month proclamation ceremony Sunday afternoon at the C.M. Russell Museum. The proclamation ceremony and essay contest starts off a month-long celebration of western art in Great Falls, with several art shows and sales scheduled around town March 19-22.

Each of the girls earned $200, a framed print of Russell's "The Jerk Line" and other art supplies for their teachers.

Both girls highlighted Russell's important work capturing moments in history and giving some voice to Native Americans, among other achievements of the cowboy painter.

"One more way he is important is that some people said Charlie Russell was an amazing artist, but others said he was a better friend," Brady wrote. "Charlie Russell made friends with all types of people, including Native Americans. He was able to paint, draw and write stories better because he knew many people of all races and even within different races, different personalities."

Amanda focused on the art that influenced Russell and how Russell's artwork told stories.

"There is one main difference between reading a book and admiring one of Mr. Russell's pictures. The observer creates the story," she wrote. "Every person that looks at one of his pictures is not going to have the same feeling about what is going on or what the character is experiencing."

Neither of the girls said they knew very much about Russell before launching into their essays. But fortunately, all fifth-graders in Cascade County make a trip to the Russell Museum, have resources in their school libraries and get to listen to artist-in-residence Mary Jane Bradbury portray Russell's wife, Nancy.

"It was fun, but some parts are hard," Brady said. "I had to do a lot of research."

"It took me a long time to write it," Amanda said. "I didn't know anything about him."

But now that the two have, both said they appreciate Russell being a self-taught artist.

"He started out not knowing anything about painting and he became an excellent artist," Amanda said.

"He wanted to be a cowboy, but he turned out to be an artist," Brady said. "An awesome artist."

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Kristen Cates at 791-1463 or kcates@greatfallstribune.com. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_KCates.