Schneider Museum of Art
Current Exhibition
July 11- September 13, 2008
James Lavadour: The Properties of Paint & Selections from Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts
I
see time, space, and event in the properties of paint. The properties of paint are infinite, and a painting is a model for infinity. The essence of painting is an organic event. – James Lavadour
James Lavadour (b. 1951) is of Walla
Walla heritage and is a member
of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He lives
and works at his home and studio on the reservation, and is the founder of the
Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts.
In 2000,
the painter James Lavadour began a body of work that came to him with a force
he describes in volcanic terms – an explosion, an out flowing of energy.
Up until that time, Lavadour was best known for kinetic landscape paintings
that are evocative of the geological forces that shaped the earth of his
homeland, the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon.
Working in tones of earth and fire, Lavadour uses processes of layering,
scraping, and wiping that in macrocosm and over millennia also formed the hills
and ridges the artist grew up walking, around the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
This exhibition
examines the conceptual layers underlying Lavadour’s
work of the past eight years. In this body of work, he brings together
two strands – his landscapes and what he calls “interiors” or architectural
“structures” or “abstractions” – in the new images. The paintings are
works of natural and physical forces, in which the properties of pain – the
physicality of liquid and mineral, interacting with gravity and surface – are
revealed.- Rebecca Dobkins, associate professor of anthropology and faculty curator of Native American Art, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University.
I had been painting before but
not like this. In June of 2000, I just began. I made hundreds of
paintings. Simple marks and events at first, then compounding layers and
passages of time. Everything that I know and remembered began to cascade
before me. I began to paint in an out flowing burst. I was shaken
by so much energy. I felt I was in a small house as some giant form- the shadow of a cloud, and eclipse- passed by. - James Lavadour
Organized by the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, James Lavadour: The Properties of Paint has been supported by an
endowment gift from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, through their
Spirit Mountain Community Fund. Additional support was provided by grants from
the City of Salem’s
Transient Occupancy Tax funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.
Crow's
Shadow Institute of the Arts was founded by James Lavadour and a group of
supporters in 1992. The institute is a
non-profit art facility designed to bring technology, instruction, and cultural
exchange to artists on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Eastern
Oregon. It provides Native artists with both educational and
professional opportunities to utilize art as a vehicle for economic
development. Artists included in this exhibition from Crow’s Shadow’s permanent
collection include: Rick Bartow, Edgar Heap of Birds, Joe Fedderson, James
Lavadour, Truman Lowe, Lillian Pitt, Ryan Lee Smith, Kay Walkingstick, and
Marie Watt.
Many thanks to Crow’s Shadow Institute for their assistance
in the loan of work from their collection.
Museum Hours
Tuesday-Saturday:
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Suggested Donation: $3.00
