Press Release – Sensing Sasquatch Exhibition Earns Autry Public History Prize for High Desert Museum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Contact: Heidi Hagemeier, director of communications and visitor experience, 541-382-4754 ext. 166, hhagemeier@highdesertmuseum.org

 

Sensing Sasquatch Exhibition Earns Autry Public History Prize for High Desert Museum

BEND, OR — The High Desert Museum’s original exhibition Sensing Sasquatch has won the 2025 Autry Public History Prize, which recognizes exceptional work that contributes to a broader public reflection on and appreciation of the North American West.

The prize was awarded to the High Desert Museum on October 17, 2025, at the annual Western History Association Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In remarks from the Autry Prize Committee, the exhibition was praised for its “originality of work and the collaboration of the project team.” The committee also applauded Sensing Sasquatch for its “major contribution to Public History and the field of the North American West.”

The Autry Public History Prize is awarded annually. The award consists of a $1,000 prize, made possible by the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. Past winners of the prize range from museums to libraries to state historical centers.

Blending history, art and mixed media, Sensing Sasquatch explored the cultural significance of Sasquatch across Indigenous cultures in the High Desert. In pop culture today, Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, often appears on beer cans, stickers and billboards. Yet for some Native people of the Indigenous Plateau, Sasquatch represents a story that is more profound and spiritual. Open from March 2024 through January 2025, Sensing Sasquatch challenged visitors’ perceptions, encouraging them to reconsider the conventional depictions.

“We are so proud of the collaboration and dedication of the Museum team for their research and creative spirit in producing this unique and impactful exhibition,” said Museum Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D. “We worked very closely with Indigenous partners and artists to make their voices the core of Sensing Sasquatch. We are honored to have the exhibition recognized by the Western History Association and the Autry Prize Committee.”

Advisor and scholar Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D., (Nez Perce/Cayuse) and the Museum conducted research into the significance of Sasquatch to Indigenous peoples – from linguistic study to examining archival documents. The result was an exhibition that told a compelling and respectful story about the past, present and future of Sasquatch.

The Museum also commissioned five Indigenous artists to craft pieces reflecting their encounters with and perspectives on the enigmatic figure. Rocky LaRock (Salish), Charlene “Tilly” Moody (Warm Springs), Frank Buffalo Hyde (Nez Perce/Onondaga), HollyAnna CougarTracks De Coteau Littlebull (Yakama/Nez Perce/Cayuse/Cree) and Cash Cash each contributed unique artwork that sparked conversation, curiosity and wonder.

A car disappearing into a forest scene greeted visitors at the exhibition entrance. The car’s collection of stereotypical Sasquatch stickers was a contrast to the content inside the gallery, beginning with a digital language map that highlighted the diverse array of names used to refer to Sasquatch across the Indigenous Plateau.

Buffalo Hyde’s multimedia piece Enigma portrayed Sasquatch as an interdimensional being with the ability to traverse history, time and space. LaRock’s Shapeshifter mask evoked a large being emerging from the forest, and Moody’s Around Us Watching piece provided a glimpse into the forest in the shape of a Sasquatch.

Other artworks in the gallery were Cash Cash’s Sasquatch’s Rattle No. 1 and Sasquatch’s Rattle No. 2, which Sasquatch perhaps wields. In the center of the gallery stood CougarTracks DeCoteau Littlebull’s The Protector, a towering mixed media Sasquatch sculpture.

Visitors were also encouraged to use their senses as they explored the Spirit of the West Gallery. A scent station invited visitors to envision an encounter with Sasquatch through smell, and they could feel the buffalo hide used in Moody’s piece. Forest sounds filled the gallery, and the motion-activated sound from Buffalo Hyde’s Enigma delighted visitors of all ages with its deep, ground-shaking subwoofer.

Sensing Sasquatch was made possible by Visit Central Oregon Future Fund, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Bigfoot Beverages, Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, Redmond Municipal Airport, Central Oregon Daily News, Bend Magazine, Brooks Resources Corporation, Old Mill District, and 100.7 The X, with support from Travel Oregon, Waypoint Hotel and Bend Pet Express.

 

ABOUT THE MUSEUM: 

The HIGH DESERT MUSEUM opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association’s Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. 

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