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Albert Lee Ferris (1939-1986) was a Native American genre artist known for his attention to detail and historically accurate renditions. An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation, Ferris was one of the first commercially successful artists from his tribe and is considered a pioneer for contemporary Ojibwe artists.

EARLY LIFE
Albert Lee Ferris was born in 1939 on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in north-central North Dakota.

The oldest of 4 sons born to Samuel Ferris and Dora Charette, he spent his formative years living in a multi-cultural family environment, with strong American Indian and Lebanese cultural influences from his family. He became interested in art at an early age and began drawing when he was two years old. From the sixth grade on, he provided illustrations for his school newspapers.

Educated in public schools in Rolla, N.D., he graduated Rolla High School and studied art at the University of North Dakota from 1956 to 1958, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago prior to entering the US Army during in 1959.

CAREER
Following his service in the military, Ferris worked as an illustrator for the Department of Defense at Fort Sam Houston (Texas) where he honed his artistic talents illustrating combat medical training manuals, before branching into commercial art.

During the late 1970s, he began to expand into fine arts, and had his first significant fine art showing at the Southern Plains Indian Museum and Crafts Center in Anadarko, Oklahoma, in 1982. Following a solid showing, he was asked to participate in the Night of First Americans art expo in Washington, DC, by President Ronald Reagan.

His works were shown widely in such venues as the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Kennedy Fine Arts Center, and other shows across the United States. He was successful in painting (acrylic and oil), sculpture, bronze, and multimedia. Records of his work are maintained in the Art & Artist files at the Smithsonian American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery Library