As a kid when I watched "Westerns" on television, I always rooted for the Indians. They were obviously the underdog. When I grew up and learned history, I was appalled by the injustices forced upon them. They were pushed off their land, told not to speak their native language and, well, you know the rest of the story. My sister married a full blooded Chippewa Native American and her two children are "half bloods" as my niece likes to refer to herself. I decided I wanted to paint a series of Native Americans and started looking for old photographs. I only had Edward Curtis photographs for my resource, so I went to the library and searched for old photographs dated from about 1890 to 1900 and found some that were public domain. I knew I could paint them without copy write infringement. I have never shown these paintings in a gallery even thought they were painted over twenty years ago. They were kind of personal to me. I would like them to be seen now.