Alaina Buffalo Spirit’s medium is Ledger Art, inspired by her Cheyenne ancestors, who sketched their version of events during the late 1870’s of their fight for survival on antique ledger pages. In lieu of written text, these illustrations captured the stories of Plains men during a period of intense forced assimilation. This includes those Cheyenne and Kiowa warriors imprisoned in the barracks of Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, whose ledger art functioned as both documentation and as an outlet. While ledger art gets its name from the paper these men once derived from military officers, traders, and government agents, Alaina’s pieces are completed on materials such as dated accounting sheets, maps, and sheet music.
Although Alaina’s artwork honors original ledger artists’ 1800s imagery, she continues the tradition by highlighting the contributions of women, whose stories were not often recorded. As an enrolled member of the So’taa’ee band of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, Alaina’s ledger art depicts these women’s strength, elegance, and beauty, including those most important in her life – her mom and grandmother. Her work also features horses, including “Cheyenne Horses,” which honors the power, grace and glory of the legendary Cheyenne Horse Culture that still exists today. Alaina’s work has been featured across the country in interpretive centers, markets, art shows, and the public workshops she has offered through museums and schools.
