The Sulzer Regional Library will have an exhibit by artist Ernest M. Whiteman III on display during Native American Heritage Month in November.
Ernest M. Whiteman III is a Northern Arapaho filmmaker trying to be a novelist who has ended up in a few art gallery exhibits and with a play that he produced. The Chicago resident is currently in production on a full-length, full-text feature film adaptation of Hamlet, of which six scenes were recently completed. As a writer, Ernest has self-published a collection of short stories, The Autobiography of Blue Woman, and is at work on his first novel, A Rez Tale, due in early 2016.
As an artist, he is working on a ledger art project, NAMELESS: The Authentic and Magical Ledger Art of EW3, which had a showing in March at the Thompson Center and a preview showing in October 2013 at Citlalin Gallery in Pilsen.
Ernest serves as the director of First Nations Film and Video Festival, Inc., a nonprofit film festival dedicated to supporting Native American directors of all skill levels. He works hard at securing venues for two annual film festivals.
He works for Chicago Public Schools as a media mentor with Adobe Youth Voices Program, assisting CPS teachers and students to develop skills associated with media production, graphic design and video-making geared toward showcasing a youth perspective in worldwide media. Ernest also taught an upper-level course, Native Americans in Media, at the University of Wisconsin Parkside during the fall 2011, 2012 and 2014 semesters.
