"'Moon Dance' brings up another question as well—is it possible for animals to gain satisfaction from ceremonial behavior? 'Animal Rites,' where deer are inspired to dance like cranes, takes this ideal a step further. A magpie, rabbit, cat and antelope all get involved, while a turtle can't wait to come ashore and join the enchanted circle, and a trout jumps for joy at the sight of such celebration.

Humans have shared the world with other living things since we first appeared on the planet. That's easy to forget, especially in the big city. Montanans, however, are reminded every day that the Earth nourishes many other creatures besides ourselves, and Dolack celebrates this shared history. The salmon 'Seeking Higher Levels' as they struggle against the cataract don't notice the ancient Indian art on the rocks, but the images reveal a history shared by fish and human. The same rocks for Dolack's 'Cliff Swallows' which swoop past images painted long ago on the cliffs they now inhabit.

Dolack carries the theme much further in 'The Great Bear' and 'Big Medicine.' In these works, two great western icons, the grizzly and the white buffalo, traverse the landscape, passing over soil that clings to the human and animal history buried beneath their feet. Everything from a sacred Indian mask to a plastic six-pack holder shows that people have shared the West with animals for millenia and that we always leave something behind to mark our passing. In the 'Great Bear,' the stars in the sky tell us how people have made use of bears through the ages, both in symbolism and in reality. The sunset sky in 'Big Medicine' tells of the buffalo's impact on us and ours on it, from native dances to Buffalo Bill to monetary images.

The rare and sacred white buffalo, like 'Big Medicine,' hold especially great spiritual power. But all buffalo symbolize the west, wildness, and freedom to Americans. We almost lost these great beasts, reducing them from countless millions to a few hundred in a matter of decades. We've brought them back through careful stewardship, but what sort of world do we require the buffalo to inhabit now? Monte Dolack challenges us to contemplate the question in his works 'No Room to Roam' and 'Montana History Lesson.' The bison bull in the latter piece stands at the front of the classroom, staring at the students. The backboard behind tells what we have done to the buffalo and its environment."

-from "Invaders"