Name: Sharing Wisdom
Brand: Michael Horse
SKU: mhl000011
Price: 600.0 USD
Availability: InStock

About

Gathering Tribes

Has been sharing the beauty of Indigenous artisans of the Americas since 1991. We do our best to bring you the highest quality handmade jewelry, fine crafts and art from Indigenous artisans in the Americas.

We had to permanently close our gallery store of 29 years due to the pandemic and will be bringing all of the treasures of Gathering Tribes here. Thank you for your patience as we photograph and upload hundreds of new items including additional Zuni carvings, jewelry, beadwork, alebrijes from Zapotec artisans in Oaxaca, Huichol yarn paintings, Ojibway dream catchers, Navajo sand paintings and so much more. We hope you enjoy our new home here!

Collections

Jewelry by Michael Horse

Ledger Paintings by Michael Horse

Zuni Carvings

Jewelry by Michael Anthony Cheatham

Native American Jewelry

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6 products

Michael Horse

Sharing Wisdom

mhl000011

$600.00

Shipping calculated at checkout.

In this ledger painting by Michael Horse, one of the men is sitting with a boy sharing wisdom and information that will help him be a good community member. The man is wearing a bonnet with many eagle feathers that allow community members to know that he committed acts of bravery, courage, or accomplishment. He is hold an eagle feather fan.

Size: 13.25" H x 9" W

Document: Indian Territory Teachers Document, ca. 1910

While on film sets as an actor, Michael Horse began creating ledger paintings. Ledger painting is a traditional Native American folk art that came out of the reservation era in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Prior to that time, events such as battles and calendars were depicted on hides using traditional paints. When people were removed from their traditional territories and put on reservations they were not allowed weapons of any kind, so no hides. When people no longer had access to the hides they would find any type of paper and implement to write or draw with to record what was happening prior to being on the reservation, or what life was like being on the reservation.

Michael first saw ledger paintings at the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. He realized this was Native American history by Native American people and was inspired to create. At the time there were fewer than a handful of ledger painters who maintained the art. Now, there are many ledger painters, including women, who continue to keep this tradition alive. Michael says the hardest part about his ledger paintings is finding antique documents from the era when ledger paintings were first made. And, he especially enjoys painting on land grants which gave away Indigenous territories.