Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts at 25

Organized by the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in partnership with the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, the exhibition chronicles the history of Crow’s Shadow over the past twenty-five years as it emerged as an important native printmaking atelier in Pendleton, Oregon. The exhibition features approximately 60 prints drawn from the Crow’s Shadow Print Archive and will focus on themes of landscape, abstraction, narrative, portraiture, social critique, and humor. Included in the exhibition will be work by native and non-native artists who have worked at Crow’s Shadow, including Rick Bartow, Pat Boas, Joe Feddersen, Edgar Heap of Birds, James Lavadour, Truman Lowe, Lillian Pitt, Wendy Star, Storm Tharp, and Marie Watt, among others.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website 

Whether or not you go, Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts at 25 explores the first twenty-five years of a remarkable nonprofit printmaking and traditional arts studio based on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon, the only such center located on a reservation community in the United States. Art historian Prudence Roberts, drawing from conversations with CSIA founder, the artist James Lavadour, narrates the institute's history from its beginnings through the establishment of a professional quality printmaking program and an international reputation. Native American art scholar heather ahtone and curator Rebecca Dobkins trace the development of indigenous printmaking in North America, further contextualizing this story. Over sixty color plates will illustrate selected work from the dozens of artists, indigenous and non-indigenous, who have completed residencies at CSIA since its founding, including luminaries of contemporary Native American art Rick Bartow, Joe Feddersen, Jeffrey Gibson, Edgar Heap of Birds, James Lavadour, Lillian Pitt, Wendy Red Star, and Marie Watt.

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