[8] The University of Wyoming's American Indian Study Program named Spang its "Eminent Artist in Residence" for the spring semester of 2014.
[11] Spang drew inspiration for his work in mixed media from how his Cheyenne ancestors incorporated European materials into their artwork; he has stated, "There was this fearlessness about mediums that we don't really have today.
"[7] Spang considers his art autobiographical, addressing his cultural identity as a Cheyenne living in modern society and bridging the gap between these two worlds.
[1] In his New American Relics: Redux 2 (2009), Spang satirized museums and anthropologists' depiction of indigenous America as a "lost culture" using irony.
He designed a futuristic museum exhibit for the "vit-heut" (meaning "white man" in Northern Cheyenne) with "artifacts" molded from the plastic encasings of ordinary modern objects.
[15] In July 2017, Spang presented the video installation "War Shirt #6 – Waterways" as part of his Modern Warrior Series, at the Dry Creek Schoolhouse in Belgrade, Montana.
[18] In 2003, Spang won an Outstanding Alumni Award from MSU Billings for "Exceptional Contribution"[19] and a Woodrow Wilson Foundation: Imagining America grant.