JACKSON - One of the gems of Grand Teton National Park is its visiting artists' program at the Colter Bay Visitor Center and Indian Arts Museum, and the park has announced the museum's summer schedule.

Andrea Two Bills, an Ogallala Sioux, will demonstrate painting and beadwork at the museum June 7 through 13.

"This is one of the greatest programs that we get to offer to the public," Joan Anzelmo, Grand Teton spokeswoman said. "We try to be mindful all the time that native peoples preceded all of us."

She said the land is and was sacred to natives, and the park works to bring artists from many different tribes to the museum to show Indian traditions - and, with that, native histories.

Artists will work at the museum from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, Monday through Sunday. They work at the demonstration area in the lower level of the Colter Bay Indian Arts Museum.

Artists' work will be available for purchase.

For the past 30 years, guest artists from different tribes have worked at the museum, sharing with the public - by working and by talking - their traditional and contemporary art forms. The program aims to help people understand and appreciate American Indian art and culture.

The program has also provided an important venue for American Indians to show how their art has evolved into contemporary uses and designs.

The art forms range from painting to weaving, beadwork, quillwork, decorative gourds and musical instruments including flutes and drums.

The museum's collection holds nearly 800 pieces, all from the collection of David T. Vernon, an illustrator who lived from 1900-1973. The collection was purchased by the Jackson Hole Preserve with funds from Laurance S. Rockefeller in 1972.

The collection is tucked alongside the Colter Bay Visitor Center, and is open every day. For anyone interested in Native American art, the collection is a "must see." The pieces come from tribes all over the country with an emphasis on those from the Plains and Rocky Mountain West.

Although the work of the Shoshone, Blackfeet, Crow and Bannock tribes that traditionally came through Jackson Hole is represented, much of the art comes from the Sioux tribe of the Dakotas.

Guest artists at the museum help interpret pieces and work throughout the museum.

Admission is free.