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Linda Haukaas's Ledger Art Since 2013

 

by Richard Pearce, Author of Women and Ledger Art: Four Native American Women Artists

 

Women and Ledger Art

        Native men’s and women’s art forms (ledger drawings for men and quilling or beading for women), like the gender roles, were complementary—being equally important in bringing honor to the family and maintaining the basic values of the tribe.  But the history reflected in ledger drawing shows us very little of women’s lifeways or power in the tribe—and even less of their heroic deeds and other accomplishments.  Nonetheless, they were passed down orally.

Linda Haukaas (Sicangu Lakota) began drawing on ledgers in the 1970s.  Haukaass appropriated the male-gendered form of ledger art because of her “need to tell stories [and] make commentaries” [Haukaas].  Women and Ledger Art contains her drawings that illustrate traditional and heroic events in native women’s lives.  Since then her drawings have been mostly lyric, expressing the feelings of her subject.

 

        In Women and Ledger Art Haukaas has two drawings called Nation of Horses, which are now in the Brooklyn Museum, each with four women, three of whom are wearing pictographic dresses with images of their husbands or brothers killed in battle looking at horses running in opposite directions (for pictographic dresses see my website: http://rpearce4.wix.com/pictographic-dresses).  “While men have traditionally associated with a spiritual as well as physical connection with horses, it is important to realize that women felt these connections as well.  They used horses to move family tipis, ride to the buffalo hunt, carry home the products of animals they butchered, accompanied the warriors to the battlefield, and drag the sun dance pole they selected to the yearly Sun Dance ritual.  And they expressed their respect for the horse by quilling and beading sacred designs on the horse mask, which protected the horse both physically and spiritually” (Women and Ledger Art).  

Nation of Horses

Nation of Horses 2012

 

Nation of Horses is a variation of Horse Nation.  It depicts a mother holding her daughter carrying her doll, while her son plays with his bow while watching a line of horses running past them.  The doll and bow refer to the role each child plays in the family and nation of horses. 

 

 

Tunkasilia, Tunkasilia, Help Me!

Tunkasilia, Tunkasilia,

Help Me! 2014

In 2014 Haukaas began a series of lyric drawings, which express the feelings of her subject.  “This drawing depicts the complexity and frustrations of family life. The events are real, just compiled into one drawing” (Haukaas).

Standing on Her Own

Standing on Her Own, 2014

 

 “This drawing is about maintaining balance.  This drawing may loosely fall into the historic category of visionary drawing.  Visionary drawings were created from dreams, waking visions.” (Haukaas).

New Wave Ledger Art

New Wave Ledger Art, 2015

 

Haukaas makes two points about this drawing:  first “We as artists project ourselves into our drawings and are exhausted when done.”  Second:  “Many artists practice drawing on ledger paper; some stick to pictographic principles of drawing and ethnographic accuracy.  Many innovate.  Some borrow from other cultures and draw on ledger paper.  Not all can be classified as ledger art but can be classified according to their innovation as a subset” (Haukaas).          

Blue Eyes, 2016

 

Blue Eyes is modeled on the work of the artist Margaret Kean, about whom a movie was made called Big Eyes, directed by Tim Burton and staring Amy Adams.

Dog Walker

Dog Walker, 2016

 

Whimsy is another subset.  Dog Walker is part of a series called What Rez Girls Don’t Do.  “Rez Girls don’t use bedazzled collars for their dogs, leash them, and take them for walks in countryside or roads.” (Haukaas)

The Ball

The Ball, 2016

"One evening I was playingball on the floor with our two dogs, Strudel and Coco, when a flashback of my playing ball with my Alexis sprang up. It was a vivid flash back with sounds and scents. I miss getting down on the floor to play jacks, cars, Lego's and puzzles. I loved her discovery of new objects and the eventual permanence of objects" (Haukaas).

Collaborative Multimedia Multilayered Triptych

Collaborative multilayered, multimedia triptych by Linda and her brother Thomas Haukass 2012 

Made for an exhibition by PILA, The Publication of Indian Ledger Art at the San Diego Museum of Art.  4 x 5 feet, antique and contemporary paper, ledger paper, art paper, pencil, pen, glue, muslin, ink, antique ledger cover, and book pages. 

 

"The horizontal antique, vintage and contemporary ledger leaves (with and without drawings) have over played larger drawings. On the right is a warrior on horseback. On the left are children riding a horse. The scenes on the right are about the protective function of families while those on the left are about growth and nourishments derived from a family.

 

The vertical aspects of the central panel arise from the muslin and book cover mentioned above. These caudal and rostral areas are covered with black art paper from China. They have "lucky seeds" imbedded into the paper (glued and stamped, both) so that the appearance is reminiscent of hail designs on various Plains materials like shields, tipi and war shirts. 

 

Filling in the area outside of the 4 Directions motifs are four areas filled with torn leaves from two texts important to many of us. One is pages from Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (Dee Brown). The second source is The Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. (Richard Erdoes and Ben Black Elk).  I chose those because our mien, as a people, is informed by both historic events and our tendency to be religious people."  (Thomas Haukaas) 

Deconstructed Ledger Section by  Linda Haukaas and her brother Thomas
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