MARQUETTE, Mich.— First Nations artist Christopher Olszewski is on a journey retracing Gen. George Custer’s life from his childhood home in Monroe to his death in Little Big Horn, Montana. He will make a stop at Northern Michigan University’s DeVos Art Museum for a one-night performance. Olszewski will park a 2005 Pontiac Montana in front of the museum, place a vinyl car cover on it and invite the audience to draw or write on the surface. The purpose is to reflect on the meaning and history of Pontiac as Native American chief in the Great Lakes region and later appropriated by General Motors as an automobile icon.

The event is scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday, July 7. It is being held in collaboration with the NMU Center for Native American Studies and there is no charge to attend. Through his “In the Footsteps of Custer: Skins Project Summer 2014,” Olszewski will continue to explore his theories about cultural identity and contemporary images of Native Americans.