This is not Isaiah Dorman

 

Along the lines of my post about Mitch Bouyer, here is another mislabeled and just plain wrong "fact" floating around out there: This is NOT a photo of interpreter Isaiah Dorman. This handsome guy is probably a member of the 10th Cavalry - an all-black unit (among others) during the Indian Wars period. You can see the crossed sabers of a cavalry unit on the hat he holds, but it is not Dorman. No photo of Isaiah Dorman is known to exist, although there are a few grainy, blurry images of a man purported to be him.

Dorman, the only black man in the 7th Cavalry regiment, was fluent speaker of the Sioux language(s.) He was a fascinating guy. At the battle he was a horribly mutilated. You can read more about him here: https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/isaiah-dorman.htm

I haven't gotten to Dorman yet in my painting project, but I wanted to put this up for all to see. I asked FindAGrave to remove this photo from their site, which administrators did. 

Thanks for looking. 

Be a teacher.

 

I had an interesting experience today that left me remembering the words of my late friend, Fred Wagner III: "To hell with them."

Fred was an expert on the Battle of Little Bighorn. I mean an EXPERT. But although he'd spent decades studying and writing about the battle and was smarter than hell, he was humble - and kind. He encouraged me to push through any flack I might receive about my portrait paintings. There would be a lot, he said. "To hell with them," I can still hear him say, "I will bring the roof down on anyone who criticizes your work!" I wish he was still here. I needed him today! He died in December after a long illness.

I kept Fred's words in mind today when I engaged in a simple discussion online over the name of the river after which this battle was named. It was no big deal, in hindsight, but it hit me the wrong way. I was being taken to task for asking a simple question on a forum of experts. I remember reading questions posed on this forum that Fred answered patiently, always reminding everyone that when the "experts" become too high and mighty to answer questions and help others they have failed in the very reason the forum exists in the first place. Well it happened today. I was chided for asking a dumb question. In a way I knew that eventually this would happen because I ask a lot of questions on the forum. Few of them are answered to my satisfaction, which I suppose means my guess is as good as theirs, yet I always hope someone will offer a plausible answer or educated guess. It's a fascinating place to read all about the battle, and there are some great minds on there, but I get my Irish up when experts try to make themselves seem smarter by making others seem dumber. Fred, who was a commander in Vietnam, would request they not let the door hit them in the ass....

So my message to all of you today is that if you are an expert in your particular field, don't assume that others can know what you know by osmosis. If you answer a question that you think is dumb, be the better person and do a generous and patient job explaining things. I guarantee you it will make everyone - including you - feel better about it. And the person who learned something from you will thank you instead of blogging about you.

Do you know about Indian ledger drawings?

Let me say right off that this is NOT a ledger drawing, This is a quick similarity I sketched last night. I had been practicing with my fountain pen and thought that the page would be a good one for ledger-style art. Ledger art is the exclusive domain of certain American Indian tribes, and its really wonderful.

I'm greatly influenced by old pieces and the style of ledger art. Here's the Wiki definition, which is a good one: Ledger art is a term for narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth, predominantly practiced by Plains Indian, but also from the Plateau and Great Basin. Ledger art flourished primarily from the 1860s to the 1920s. A revival of ledger art began in the 1960s and 1970s. The term comes from the accounting ledger books that were a common source of paper for Plains Indians during the late 19th century.

 

Most of the surviving and most famous ledger art was produced by Indians who were imprisoned at places like Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida or otherwise captive on reservations. Much of it was produced for tourists but some was a way to depict life events and stories, as these tribes had no written language. I think it's fascinating and beautiful, particularly the old ones that were made before the commodification of ledger art.

 

Wikipedia does a good job of explaining the finer points of this unique art form. Indian ledger artists today make some pretty amazing pieces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ledger_art

 

And that's my post for today. In the future I will be making more of these little gems using some really interesting stuff I discovered in my husband's recycling bin. It has to do with golden eagles. Stay tuned!

Jenny