Chris Pappan

Chris Pappan (born 1971) is a Native American artist of Kanza, Osage and Cheyenne River Sioux descent. Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado he studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and is a self-described "Lowbrow native" artist, with his work based on traditional ledger art. In 2011 he participated in the Heartland Reverberations exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art along with Norman Akers, Bunky Echo-Hawk, Ryan Red Corn and Dianne Yeahquo Reyner; the same year, he was awarded the Discovery Fellowship by the Southwestern Association of Indian Artists.

In July 2014 Pappan was the featured cover artist for Native Peoples Magazine; he was also awarded a Landmarks Fellowship to travel to Australia and participate in a cultural exchange with indigenous Australians. In 2015 he presented Account Past Due: Ledger Art & Beyond at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. In 2016-17 the Field Museum of Natural History organized a show of his drawings and paintings called Drawing on Tradition: Kanza Artist Chris Pappan. His work is part of the permanent collections of the Spencer Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Native Art.