Kevin Red Star was born in 1943 on the Crow Reservation in Lodge Grass, Montana. He was raised in a family that valued art, music and culture; he developed an early love of drawing and music. This exposure and encouragement sustained him during his years in grade school during the time when Crow students were denied association with their language and cultural heritage. In 1962, during his second year of high school, Red Star was one of the first students to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There he was encouraged to explore his history and culture through modern art techniques and formed close friendships with many other American Indian artists. Red Star received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the IAIA in 2015. 

In 1965 he was given a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Art Institute where he was exposed to the ideals and socio-political energy of postmodern art and the avant-garde. Since graduating he has become a leading voice as a historian, recorder and ambassador for his native Crow culture. In 1997, Red Star received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Fine Art from the Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana.

“Indian culture has in the past been ignored to a great extent. It is for me, as well as for many other Indian artists, a rich source of creative expression. An intertwining of my Indian culture with contemporary art expression has given me a greater insight concerning my art. I hope to accomplish something for the American Indian and at the same time achieve personal satisfaction in a creative statement through my art.”

Internationally known, Kevin Red Star has exhibited all around the country and abroad; his work resides in many noteworthy collections. Some of these institutions include The Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.; CM Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana; the Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana; the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California; the Whitney Museum of Western Art, New York City, New York; the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico and the United States Department of State, Washington, D.C. Kevin’s biography  “Kevin Red Star: Crow Indian Artist” by Daniel Gibson was chosen on the 2015 USA Best Books Awards Multi-Cultural: Non-Fiction Category. In 2018 Kevin was awarded James R. Parks Trustee Purchase Award at the Autry Museum’s Masters of the West exhibition in Los Angeles, CA and also the Montana’s Governor’s Award for the Arts in Helena, MT. 

His career has spanned three decades, and he has been featured in over 100 large-scale exhibitions nation wide.