Jerry Ingram Biography

“I feel my ancestral spirit is beside me guiding me, inspiring me as I work.”
-Jerry Ingram

I am Choctaw from Battiest, OK now living in New Mexico. My education at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) led to a 20 year career in commercial art. I have always been interested in Native American Dress and art, especially the beaded and quilled decorations. The Choctaw people left very little in the way of beaded items so I concentrate my work on the styles of the Plains and Plateau Indians circa late 1800’s. The goal in my work is authenticity and detail, I try to source and replicate materials that would have been used during that time period.

My work is artistic in nature but I also research a lot to produce work that is authentic. Some of the sourced materials that were available in the 1800’s I can still find today, these include items such as seed beads, pony beads, porcupine quills, brain tanned buckskin rawhide, etc.

I have been influenced by the work of BlackBear Bosin, Allen Houser and the Indian artist and craftsmen of the 1800’s. During the 1960’s and 70’s while working in commercial art I did a variety of paintings with Native Americans as the subject matter. In order to insure accuracy in my portrayals I began to teach myself beadwork and quillwork, making replicas of historic beadwork and dressing models for reference in my work.

Jerry was a Smithsonian Native Artist Fellow in 2002, and a SWAIA fellow in 2004. He has won many awards at prestigious shows such as SWAIA Indian Market, the Heard Indian Art Fair and Market, and the National Museum of the American Indian. Jerry’s beadwork and quillwork can be found in the permanent collection of several important museums.