By Suzanne Waring
Portraiture addresses a person’s identity in an artistic form. It can be a painting, sculpture, photograph, or any other artistic media. Before photography was common, portraits were the only way to capture a person’s appearance for posterity. But a portrait should identify more than a person’s appearance; it should explore the persona, using elements like pose, expression, clothing, and background. Even after the advent of photography, portraiture created in a variety of art media has continued to be popular for its quality in characterizing an individual or individuals as Jackie and Jade Bread well know.
Jackie started working in art by painting, and then she gained a passion for beading. “For the last forty years I have painted with beads,” she said.
Jackie has such a passion for beading that she can get lost in it. Having grown up on the Blackfeet Reservation, she celebrates her heritage by creating portraits of Indigenous People in her work. She often uses photographs given to her by her parents as well as others who have kept and protected photos of friends and family.
Jackie looks at the photos and makes a drawing of the person she wants to portray. She follows the photo’s colors, or if the photo is black and white, she uses colors that she wants in the beading portrait and adds them to the paper with pencil. To get the final project just right, she may have to make several drawings and try different colors. Determining the shading of colors in the background and clothing is important to accentuate the person’s facial features. Then using exceedingly tiny beads of around five- hundred different hues of color, Jackie can create the features of the person using highlights and shadows to give the portrait a three-dimensional appearance. She also uses caricatures of animals important to the Blackfeet, such as horses, bears, wolves, and antelope, in the background to accentuate the facial features. Her art heightens practical products, such as bags, blankets, purses, lariat tie slides, pendants, and horse gear. She prefers that the objects she creates be functional as well as beautiful beadwork.
Jackie started showing and selling her work around 1979. Being an artist was how she spent each working day, and her two children were with her when she worked, traveled to exhibit her work, and consulted about Indigenous People’s art. The innate talent and living in the artistic world intertwined, and son, Paris, and daughter, Jade, became artists too.
After examining and trying several types of art as she was growing up, Jade became a ledger artist. “Several people gave me old ledgers. I pick out the pages with writing that best fits with the positioning of the person in the portrait that I want to draw. I particularly like the heavy paper and ledgers that are large, almost two feet square.”
Along with the authentic paper, Jade uses a #2 pencil, a fine-line black Sharpie, and high-quality oil-based colored pencils. She strives for a translucent quality where the viewer can see a blurred view of the writing behind the portrait. She concentrates on body proportions and making the person in her work lifelike while also using the ledger concept. The facial features are often missing or less defined in ledger art but that doesn’t mean the portrait lacks feeling, meaning, and style. By removing facial details, Jade can shift the focus to posture, color, pattern, and setting, creating space for deeper emotional connections and personal interpretation.
Both Jackie and Jade favor someone commissioning their art because then the portrait becomes especially personal. They enjoy being given a photograph that is considered an idea for the portrait but also given full rein to mastermind the project.
Jackie and Jade will tell you that their art has given them fantastic experiences. The beading and ledger art have taken them to shows, workshops, and museums throughout the country. Their work has been purchased
and displayed by the Smithsonian, many other museums, and private individuals across the United States. They have had opportunities to meet other recognized artists and discuss artistic techniques with them.
Jackie and Jade will be exhibiting their work that will be for sale during art week, March 19-21, 2026. It will be displayed with the Out West Show in Room 264 of the Heritage Inn. Look for them there.