DOLORES PURDY (CADDO/WINNEBAGO)

While doing family genealogy research around 2005, Dolores Purdy shifted her artistic path to ledger art. “I discovered one of my relatives had been imprisoned at Fort Marion, Florida, along with 71 other Cheyenne, Arapahos, Comanches and Kiowas,” Purdy shares. “A book titled Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion by Karen Peterson, truly fascinated me and started me on a knowledge search.” In her pieces, Purdy celebrates the strength of women in the Native world, although not all of her subjects are women. “I use tongue-in-cheek-humor with vivid, whimsical imagery to stand out from other ledger artists, all the while keeping my ancestors in mind,” says Purdy, adding, “The wonderful history written on the old ledgers themselves gives us a snapshot history of Euro-americans in the late 1800s; the imagery I place over the old writing gives another story.”