Pow Wows & Fairs
Walking into an antique shop in Fredricksburg, TX, I didn’t expect to walk out as a ledger artist. I didn’t. That would come later, following my 20-year career as a curator at the Arizona Historical Society.
What I did walk out of that shop with, however, was an 1869 ledger book dug out of a storage room and acquired for $10 which would ultimately send me down the path of ledger drawing.
I got chills when I first saw it. I had no idea what I was going to use it for. It was not in my head to make ledger drawings. I just bought it and came back to Tucson and left it there for a while.
‘Pow Wows are the Native American people’s way of meeting together, to join in dancing, singing, visiting, renewing old friendships, and making new ones. This is a time (honored) method to renew Native American culture and preserve the rich heritage of American Indians’ (from Powwow.com). Nearly all Southwest tribes welcome outsiders. The power of dances and prayers increase with numbers of people attending.
The pow wows and fairs I illustrate are populated by creatures and figures from Native American myths and stories: coyote, badger, bear, crow, mudhead, Koshari. All are outfitted with Steampunk-era accoutrements like machinery, gears and goggles to accent their natty period dress.
I am so familiar with these creatures now that they almost dress themselves.
The ledger drawings are not only historically inspired, but portray my love of steampunk, a subgenre of science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies in the midst industrial revolution and its steam-powered technology. I view this era as a particularly tragic one for Native Americans, who were essentially steamrolled by the overwhelming force of “Manifest Destiny.”
MORE IDEAS
Ledger drawings have given me a wealth of ideas, so much so, that I am now branching out into assemblage and more sculpture.
‘Koshare with Stye and What’s Left of Time’
‘Still Waiting’
‘Accounts Receivable’
‘Assembly’
Julia Arriola 