Jay Benham stands in his Rogers studio, surrounded by canvases that pulse with motion and memory. The air smells faintly of oil paint and turpentine, and the late afternoon light coming through the windows catches the texture of each brushstroke. On one wall, a horse rears mid-gallop, its mane twisting like smoke. On another, a figure rides with quiet determination across an open plain. These are not reproductions of old ledger drawings — they are something new, built from a tradition but pushing beyond it.
Benham, who is Kiowa, has spent the last several years reimagining ledger art for contemporary spaces. Traditionally, ledger art was drawn or painted on the bound pages of accounting books by Plains Indians in the late 1800s — a way of preserving cultural imagery during a time of forced displacement and cultural suppression. Now, Benham is taking those images off the page and translating them into large-scale paintings, murals, and public installations.
“Ledger art was never meant to stay small,” he says. “It was storytelling. It was about keeping history alive when everything else was being stripped away. I’m just asking: What if we let it breathe?”
That question has led to work in public spaces throughout Northwest Arkansas and beyond. His mural at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, completed last year, spans the length of a hallway and depicts a Kiowa warrior on horseback, rendered in bold lines and deep ochres. This spring, he’ll begin work on a new commission for a community center in Springdale, though he hasn’t yet revealed the design.
Benham’s studio, tucked into a converted warehouse space near the Railyard district, is quiet except for the hum of a space heater and the occasional sound of a brush tapping against a palette. He works mostly alone, though he sometimes invites other Native artists to collaborate or critique his pieces. He keeps a small table set aside for visitors — mostly students or community members who’ve reached out after seeing his work online or at a local show.
“I didn’t grow up around a lot of Native art,” he says. “I didn’t even know ledger art was a thing until I was in college. But when I saw it, something clicked. I realized I could connect to my heritage through making, not just remembering.”
Benham didn’t formally train as a painter. He studied business in college, worked in logistics for a few years, and only began painting seriously in his late twenties. His early pieces were small, experimental — mostly sketches in a notebook he kept in his truck during long hauls across Arkansas and Oklahoma. Over time, the drawings grew more detailed, more intentional. He started sharing them online, then in local shows. By 2022, he was showing regularly in Fayetteville and Bentonville.
Now, his work is part of a broader movement of Native artists reclaiming and reshaping traditional art forms. Where ledger art was once confined to books and later to small reproductions, artists like Benham are expanding its reach — not to commercialize it, but to reassert its relevance.
A Living Tradition
“It’s easy to think of ledger art as something from the past,” Benham says. “But it’s not a relic. It’s a language. And like any language, it changes with the speaker.”
His process is deliberate. He starts each piece with a sketch, often based on historical drawings from the late 1800s. Then he translates those lines into movement — a horse’s stride, a rider’s posture, the arc of a lance. He avoids digital tools, preferring to work by hand, letting each stroke carry the weight of intention.
He also avoids mythologizing his work. “I’m not trying to save culture,” he says. “I’m just trying to add to it.”
That humility is part of what draws people to his art — and to his presence in the local arts scene. He’s shown work at the Fayetteville Underground and participated in community mural projects in Bentonville. In Rogers, he’s become a quiet but steady presence, often seen at gallery openings or community events, always ready to talk about process, not just product.
He’s also begun mentoring younger Native artists, hosting informal workshops in his studio. “There’s power in seeing someone who looks like you doing the work,” he says. “I didn’t have that growing up. If I can offer that to someone else, even in a small way, that’s enough.”
His next major project will be a public installation in downtown Rogers, though details are still being finalized. He hopes it will spark conversations — not just about Native art, but about who gets to tell stories in public spaces.
“Art changes how we see a place,” he says. “I want people walking past this piece to think about whose stories have always been here — and whose are just now being told.”
Source: Arkansas Times
