Jerry Whitehead

"Into the Atomic Age" 1987 Colored pencils on paper 15" x 15"

February 24, 1957, James Smith Reserve, Saskatchewan
May, 1987 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia
May, 1983 Bachelor of Arts, Indian Art, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan

Within the past few years, I began incorporating beadwork in my drawings and paintings. I saw beadwork as a means of expressing a part of Indian culture. In doing the actual beadwork was no problem. It was finding a suitable surface, how to represent it in a modern text without alienating it. Finding that balance between the two to work as a whole is a challenge. "Into the Atomic Age" is my pictoral statement about the entering of this new era in history. The smaller rectangle is symbolic of what is now history. The first splitting of the atom as already occurred. Bands of beadwork which are extending out in all directions represent the Indian peoples. The division of the squares are symbolic of two opposing views.