Ledger Art (2021)

In these photo composites I have combined three forms of expression that lie close to my heart, photography, native American art (Ledger Art*) and classical music. For the music I have mostly focused on Schubert Lieder which are songs set to German romantic poetry. Each song congers up an intense feeling of place. The two compositions from Aron Copland’s “Our Town” reflect the nostalgia for an earlier time expressed in the Thornton Wilder play of the same name. Here I have chosen to combine musical scores with photos that best express my feeling about the music, story and poetry. *Ledger Art is a native American art form that originated in the 1860’s when Plains Indian populations were confined to reservations. Tribal artists resorted to reusing pages from discarded trading post ledgers to record their memories of events of historical significance. These ledgers provided a free source of high-quality archival paper. Ledger art fell out of vogue in the 1920’s but underwent a revival starting in the 1960’s. In recent years, Native American artists have reclaimed this Ledger art form, expanding its painting style and subject matter as well as using other sources of paper including antique sheet music.