Graphic artist John Iasiah Pepion, of the Blackfeet Nation and based out of Browning, recreates history through his ledger art.  

In one of his artworks, a hunted elk leaps over the mountains, with a scrawl of 19th century tax penalties fading into the background.  

A Piikani band of blue, yellow, red and black horses charge over a territorial “British Possessions” Montana map.  

Underneath a colorful, starred buffalo skull, a Great Northern Pacific Railway expense bill is barely legible.  

With each image, Pepion reclaims history.  

The tradition of ledger art developed in the Plains tribes when buffalo hides became too scarce for painting. The Plains tribes adapted to creating art on recycled paper.  

Hundreds of years later and with several family members also practicing the art, and Pepion is still hunting down antique documents to transform them with his stories.  

Pepion has done graphic art on several different canvases – from buffalo and elk hides, to tipis and buffalo skulls, and skateboards and blankets as well – but ledger art on paper remains his forte.  

“I prefer Montana paper,” he said. “I love the [papers] because of the territory.”  

“There’s a lot of paper from Virginia City, and Eastern Montana,” he said. “Sometimes I get lucky to find Missoula and Whitefish documents.” 

Pepion said he trades with an antique dealer in Bozeman to acquire much of his paper. His medium is mainly ink, with a mix of acrylic paints and colored pencils.  

He said he draws inspiration for his art from his personal stories and family history. 

“It carries on from the history within my tribe and community,” he said. “Say, a warrior’s personal war stories, tied to my family... that is the type of art that I do.” 

Pepion’s artwork is currently on display at FoR Fine Art Gallery in Whitefish, and he hosted an opening exhibition during Whitefish Gallery Nights Thursday, fielding questions to curious visitors.  

Pointing to an artwork on the wall titled “Beaver People” during the gallery night event, Pepion breaks into a story.   

The artwork is based on a person, Scabby Round Robe, who spent time with beavers, he said.  

“He spent the whole winter with them, and the beavers gave him songs, ceremonies and ways of healing. In the spring, he came back to our people with a ceremony, ‘The Beaver Bundle.’ It still happens every spring and fall. It continues on.” 

In his own art, Pepion too finds healing – and sustainability.  

Pepion is part of a group, Eight Generation’s “Inspired Native Project,” that works to increase the business capacity of cultural artists while maintaining their authenticity – hence the group’s tagline, “inspired Native, not native-inspired.”  

Pepion only recently got back into galleries after opting for mostly merchandise and website sales for a while, he said.  

“Derek [Vandeberg,] the owner of the gallery, got me back into it,” he said. “I’d come up here and visit, and I liked the feeling I got,” he said. 

Pepion maintains his online shop, and it includes both largescale authentic artworks as well as more affordable prints, notebooks, towels and mugs.  

“I feel like I’m on a roll,” he said, describing his reach to multiple galleries across Montana, and one in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

“I’m going to go hard until I can’t anymore,” he said.  

    Ledger artworks by John Isaiah Pepion. (Kelsey Evans/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    "Beaver People" by John Isaiah Pepion at FoR Gallery in Whitefish.