Native American Ledger Art Courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives

Native American Ledger Art Pictographic art  Prehistoric art style first used on rocks and animal skins.  Later drawn in journals procured from the white traders and trappers.  In 1920’s, drawn by children in boarding schools  Children drew pictures in the ledger books their teachers gave them for assignments  That is how the art style came to be called ledger art.

Native American Ledger Art  To view ledger art by Walter Bone Shirt kept in the University of Montana library, click on the link below.  Once at the web site:  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “more images.”  Click on the first image (front cover).  To see more images, go up to the green strip and click on “next”.  When finished viewing examples, press close box (X) to return to the slide show. Ledger Art

Native American Ledger Art  We will share two stories  The first story is a fiction book that shows illustrations of traditional ledger art.  The second story is a fiction book with illustrations that have been influenced by ledger art.

Two Stories of Ledger Art  We will first read The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle  Written and illustrated by Gay Matthaei and others  Notice how similar the illustrations are to the ledger art by Walter Bone Shirt that we saw online.  STOP here and read the story.  We will now read Crazy Horse’s Vision  Written by Joseph Bruchac  Illustrated by S.D. Nelson  S.D. Nelson’s art style has been heavily influenced by ledger art.  Please look at the story’s art work as we share the book together.  STOP here and read the story.

Ledger Art Questions  What is ledger art?  Pictographic art adapted from rocks and animal skins to paper  Where was it first used?  On journals and ledger sheets from the trappers and traders.  When did children start to use it?  In the 1920’s at Indian Boarding Schools

Ledger Art Activity  Choose one of the two stories we have just read for your drawing.  Fold one white 12” x 18” piece of construction paper into fourths.  In each panel of your construction paper, write a sentence that describes one of the events from the story you have chosen.  Using ledger book style, sketch a representation of each sentence.  Color in each sketch carefully and completely.  Put your name on your four-panel art work.