Studio, artists celebrated
Book, exhibit focus on the history of a printmaking studio in Eastern Oregon
A new book and exhibition chronicles the 25-year history of a world-class printmaking studio located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton. The Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, the third largest art museum in Oregon, organized the effort in partnership with the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts.
“Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts at 25” opened at the museum in September 2017. The Crow’s Shadow studio focuses on contemporary fine art printmaking.
The exhibit, supported by a grant from The Ford Family Foundation, features 75 prints drawn from the Crow’s Shadow print archive; a full-color, hardbound catalog complements the exhibit.
“It is a coming together of two significant institutions combined with the talent of dozens of the most esteemed artists of our time,” says Kandis Brewer Nunn, senior adviser to The Ford Family Foundation’s Visual Arts program.
The featured prints are the work of artists who have visited Crow’s Shadow over the past 25 years to work with master printer Frank Janzen, who retired last year. The new master printer is Judith Baumann.
Crow’s Shadow was founded in 1992, with a mission of providing educational, social and economic opportunities for Native Americans through artistic development. “We quickly grew beyond our borders,” says Karl Davis, the Institute’s executive director, “and today we are bringing the world to the reservation and the reservation to the world.”
The studio’s remote, serene location, coupled with 24-hour access to a world-class print facility, draws visiting artists in a variety of mediums. The artists work with the master printer to translate their vision into prints. They leave a proof of their work when they complete their residency.
The exhibit traveled to the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, in summer of 2018, and it will continue on this September to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Washington State University in Pullman. The Boise Art Museum will welcome the exhibit in March of 2019.
“The show was a real hit, and the opening was attended by people from all parts of the state,” says Brewer Nunn. “And the catalogue remains long after the exhibition comes down, as a celebration of the life of these two organizations.”
Three Hallie Ford Fellows recognized
Three Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts received prestigious awards for their work this year, bringing national recognition for their artistic talent and helping bolster Oregon’s place as a preeminent artistic venue.
Guggenheim Fellowship
Portland artist Stephen Hayes (2011 Hallie Ford Fellow) is a new Guggenheim Fellow, joining a diverse group of 172 scholars, artists and scientists. The highly competitive Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. Hayes was one of nearly 3,000 candidates who competed for the prestigious award.
Fellowships are intended to help further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color, or creed. The amount of the grants, which are unrestricted, vary.
“This fellowship is a very humbling validation for decades of focused work,” Hayes says. “The award will be used to help fund my current project titled In the Hour Before. My hope is that having an Oregon artist receive this award helps shine a bright light on the excellent art and artists that come out of here.”
Hayes has been exhibiting his paintings for more than 30 years in solo and group exhibitions across America, in the Middle East and Japan. In addition to teaching and the practice of art, Hayes is actively engaged in the Oregon arts community, serving on advisory panels, curatorial committees and as a visiting artist and juror.
The Tiffany Awards
Two Oregon artists were among the 30 winners chosen to receive $20,000 grants from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation to help them in producing new work. Both are Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts: Ellen Lesperance (2012) and Wendy Red Star (2016). Their artwork will be documented in a catalogue published by the foundation.
The recipients were chosen from 156 artists who were nominated anonymously by artists, critics, museum professionals and Tiffany Foundation trustees. About half of the 30 winners came from the Northeast.
Ellen Lesperance has soloed and been included in group exhibitions for the past 15 years in Portland, New York, Boston, Seattle, London, Miami, Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Kansas City. She works in painting and mixed media.
Wendy Red Star, a multi-media artist, was raised on the Apsaalooke (Crow) reservation in south-central Montana; her works explore the intersections of Native ideologies and colonialist structures. She has exhibited in the United States and abroad.
Stephen Hayes, Wendy Red Star, Ellen Lesperance,
