Featured Artist: Dolores Purdy

(Caddo/Winnebago)

Studio: La Mesilla, NM

“Warrior Art” is a common description of the Ledger Art style, and was considered a male art form in the past.  For nearly 2 decades, I have followed the gender specific traditional art form by using the same medium of antique paper and color pencils, only creating a contemporary version from a female perspective.  My work veers far from the usual imagery typically seen in most contemporary ledger art.  The images can be humorous or serious while immersed in Native American heritage, iconography and pop-culture.  Peter Maxx and the psychedelic pop-art movement have been an influence in my art work as well as the Art Deco movement and Japanese textiles.  My images may represent Bison hunters riding past colorful tipis, or bright Cadillacs racing across the page.  Tongue-in-cheek humor, bright colors, and vivid whimsical imagery is my way to stand out from the other ledger artists as well as honoring the ancestors.   

I have enjoyed working with institutions, universities and museums presenting the history of ledger art as well as sharing my work.  A few of these institutions include National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC; Brown University, Providence, RI; University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN; and USC La Jolla, CA.

I have been mentioned in several articles in magazines and newspapers.  A few include Southwest Art Magazine, Cowboys and Indians, Western Art Collector. Native American Art Magazine, American Art Collector Magazine, Forbes, well as Santa Fe New Mexican.  I am one of four subjects of a book written by Richard Pearce, Women and Ledger Art and published by the University of Arizona Press.  My work is included in the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian, The Smithsonian Museum of American History, The White House, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, UC/San Diego, Tweed Museum and Hood Museum at Dartmouth as well as other museums.  I have experience as a freelance writer.  I am a past member of the Standards Committee for SWAIA and past board member of the Lawrence Indian Art Show in Lawrence, KS.