… the West

By Johnny D. Boggs

Minnesota artist Arnie Lillo employs sheet metal to tell the thrilling story of the James-Younger Gang’s disastrous raid at Northfield.

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Must-read books and must-see movies about the so-called Indian problem of the 19th century. Plus reviews of recent nonfiction books and the DVD documentary Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School.

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Arnie Lillo's depiction of the James-Younger Gang entering the First National Bank. Courtesy Arnie Lillo, Good Thunder, Minn. It’s not your typical theme park, art exhibit or history lesson. Amid southern Minnesota woods and farmland, Arnie Lillo has blended sheet metal “yard art” with the history of perhaps the West’s most infamous bank robbery.

More than a century ago, this gently …

This piece was written in conjunction with the article " Arnie Lillo Re-Creates James-Younger Gang’s Minnesota." Click on the link to read the full article and see examples of Lillo’s work.

 

The metal skills might have come naturally for Arnie Lillo, but history is another story.

“I didn’t have a clue about this,” Lillo says. “This is something that just happened. History was my poorest subject in school. I didn’t like it. …