Ponca Economic Development Corporation

FAMILY PORTRAIT. Done on an antique ledger log page for the state of Illinois. Dated 1917.

Attribution:    © by Travis Blackbird, used with permission under license.

Help support Native American artistry! Our programming for artists is currently limited to acknowledging their talents through a an Artist of the Month feature on our website.  However, we think we can do more!  With your help, we will be able to start an Artist in Residence program and a Small Grants to Artists program.

Even though we have just begun our journey supporting the arts, we've already met several amazing Native artists.  Our youngest featured artist, Sierra Buffalohead, was only 16 when we first met her.  We licensed the images for several of her brightly colored and meaningful pieces for an online project.  

                                                               Attribution: © by Sierra                                                                    Buffalohead, used with                                                                    permission under license. 

Another artist we've licensed images from is Travis Blackbird, an amazing artist who specializes in ledger art.  I researched ledger art after meeting him and discovered that ledger art is a Native American art genre generally attributed to Plains Indians.   Plains pictorial art frequently emphasized narrative action and eliminates unnecessary detail or backgrounds. Figures tended to be drawn in hard outlines and filled with solid fields of color.  Source: Wikipedia  (4)Greene, 63.  Ledger art was historically drawn on business ledger paper and Travis continues this tradition in his art.