Ledger drawings date to at least the 1860s when they were created by incarcerated Great Plains people using the materials at hand, in this case torn pages from ledger books given to prisoners along with crayons and colored pencils. Contemporary artist, Terran Last Gun’s new show opening on March 7 at Hecho a Mano in Santa Fe, reflects on how he draws from this history while breathing new life into a traditional art form.
Hecho a Mano Opens Terran Last Gun’s Art Show
“My work focuses on color and form, and how they interact with one another,” says Piikani (Blackfeet) citizen and visual artist Terran Last Gun. Last Gun’s work draws on the relationship between color, shape, land, cosmos, cultural narratives, and personal experiences which he calls the “building blocks of my art practice”.
Last Gun explores these intwined relationships in a range of media including printmaking, painting, photography, and ledger drawing.
Using Ledger Art
“Ledger art is very unique to Indigenous people,” Last Gun says. It shows both the artistry and resourcefulness of the people who created it. While much traditional ledger drawing is pictorial and representational, Last Gun’s ledger art is more geometric. But there are strong parallels he says. “I am often pondering how we relate to color and form, both individually and collectively as human beings,” he says.
While his work may appear abstract, it’s based on a powerful visual vocabulary he created by studying the ledger art of his father, Terrance Guardipee, as well as the painted lodges of the people of the Blackfoot Confederacy. He firmly roots symbols of the stars, cosmos, mountains, animals, and the land in his luminous works. He often uses antique ledger sheets for his work, furthering the feeling that he is both looking back in reverence as well as looking forward.
About Terran Last Gun
Born in Montana, Last Gun now lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He received his A.S. degree from the Blackfeet Community College in 2011, and later studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts where he earned a BFA in Museum Studies and AFA in Studio Arts in 2016.
His show at Hecho a Mano runs through March 31, 2025.
Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photos Courtesy of Terran Last Gun
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