He was hired to paint, but exactly what he would paint, what his creations would say about Lewis and Clark, was left completely to him.

And contemporary Western painter Walter Piehl of Minot didn't have to ponder long.

"It was pretty obvious to me," he said Tuesday.

Piehl, commissioned by the Bismarck Tribune - his work intended to further enrich Bismarck's upcoming Circle of Cultures national Lewis and Clark signature event Oct. 22-31 - focuses on Sakakawea.

He said he hopes the two paintings, unveiled Tuesday, help people feel something about Sakakawea's importance and accomplishments, which should be celebrated.

What she accomplished for the expedition, first while pregnant, then a woman with a little baby, "it was an amazing thing," he said.

Piehl, known for his abstract style, decided to merge expressionism and some realism in the paintings.

On the bottom portion of "The Family of Discovery," is a reproduction of a map made by Lewis after the expedition. Trails of paint from the piece's upper portion dribble down onto the map.

That painting, owned by the Tribune, a Circle of Cultures sponsor, will be on the cover of the official souvenir program.

Piehl is selling the other painting, "Mother and Child," at auction on the Internet at http://www.circleofcultures.com. Posters and prints also are available on the site and will be available at the October Circle of Cultures event.

Ken Rogers, the Tribune's managing editor, and a fellow artist, is an admirer of Piehl's work.

But he said Tuesday that before seeing the paintings, "I was unsettled all the night before."

Piehl's paintings are often blast-of-color blurs and tangled lines. Knowing Piehl's unique style, Rogers wondered if the paintings could even be used, if they'd be "too off."

But when he saw them:

"Wow," he remembers was his first reaction. "I felt great."

The paintings are so different from any other Lewis and Clark art, different from art at other signature events, and they speak about North Dakota and the experience here - and that's what Rogers had wanted.

"We hope it transmits the kind of feeling that North Dakota feels about this great event," he said at the unveiling of the 5-foot-high "The Family of Discovery" at Five Nations Arts in Mandan.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at vgrantier@ndonline.com)