Hallie Ford Museum of Art Hosts Contemporary Native American Prints

Wednesday, 25 October 2006 16:44

SALEM, OR - A selection of contemporary prints created at the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeastern Oregon will be featured in an exhibition at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.  The Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial opens Oct. 28 and continues through Dec. 22 in the Study Gallery and Print Study Center.  Several events are planned in conjunction with the exhibition, including an artist lecture, a panel discussion and a printmaking workshop.

Founded in 1992 by Native American painter and printmaker James Lavadour, the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts seeks to create educational and professional opportunities for Native Americans to use their art as a vehicle for economic development.  The facility, housed in the historic St. Andrew’s Mission schoolhouse, features a state-of-the-art printmaking studio, classroom, computer lab, library and gallery.

The exhibition, organized by faculty curator Rebecca Dobkins, features work created in the past six years by 15 contemporary artists from throughout the U.S., including Rick Bartow, Joe Feddersen, James Lavadour, Edgar Heap of Birds, Truman Lowe, Lillian Pitt, Kay WalkingStick and Marie Watt.  A wide variety of printmaking techniques are represented, including lithography, etching, linocut, woodcut and monotype.

On Oct. 27 master printer Frank Janzen will present a slide lecture on the history of the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts.  Janzen is a graduate of the University of Victoria and is the Tamarind Master Printer for the Crow’s Shadow Press.

On Oct. 28 Dobkins will lead a panel discussion with Native American artists about the impact of Crow’s Shadow on contemporary Native American art in general and their own work in particular.  Included in the discussion will be Rick Bartow, Phillip John Charette, Joe Feddersen, James Lavadour, Lillian Pitt and Marie Watt.

The Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial is supported by an endowment gift from The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde through their Spirit Mountain Community Fund, and by the Indian Country Conversations Series at Willamette University.  Additional support has been provided by grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University.  The Hallie Ford Museum of Art(HFMA) exists to support the liberal arts curriculum of Willamette University, and to serve as an intellectual and cultural resource for the City of Salem and beyond, through the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of historical and contemporary art with an emphasis on regional art.  Visit : www.willamette.edu/museum_of_art/collections/