Tag: Native American Art

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Write Around PAM: Joe Feddersen

Flat Screen, Joe Feddersen, 19 ½ x 25, fused glass. A photo of a vertical, rectangular glass panel showing a simplified humanoid figure with an oversized rectangle for a head. The panel consists of a multitude of small glass rectangles that have been fused together forming the figure in black outline against a brick-like background pattern. The figure’s head is the outline of a large, horizontal rectangle resembling a flat screen TV. The neck, shoulders, arms, hands with thumbs sticking out, a torso, two legs and feet complete the figure. The figure is set against light blue glass rectangles that are stacked to form uneven rows with space between them being black. The piece is edged with a thin, red border.

Screens and our relationships to them continue to evolve and influence all facets of our lives—how we stay informed, how we work and learn and play, how we connect with one another, how we attempt civil discourse, even where in our spaces we spend our time. They can connect us across vast distances, and also…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Zig Jackson

Indian Man on the Bus, from the series Indian Man in San Francisco, 16 x 20 inches, gelatin silver print. A horizontal, rectangular, black and white photo of the crowded interior of a bus featuring a man wearing a Native American feather headdress. The view is of the last few rows of the back of the bus showing a group of seated male presenting individuals. At right, a man is seen wearing a large Native American feather headdress composed of dark tipped, white feathers that radiate from a beaded band across the top of the man’s forehead. He wears a neutral expression, dark sunglasses, a jacket, cuffed jeans and high-top sneakers. He is sitting on one of the inward facing bus benches and so faces towards the left. The other figures around him sit in rows: three behind the man in the headdress, across the back wall of the bus, four seated in rows in front of the man and several partially visible figures to the left of the photo. The men, all of whom look past the man in the headdress or out the window, appear to be of varying backgrounds such as White, Hispanic or Asian. A city street scene is visible through large bus windows at right.

“While working on his MFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute during the 1990s, Zig Jackson turned the camera on himself. He wryly explored the ways that he, a Native American, moved through a large American West Coast city that was once the land of Indigenous peoples including the Ohlone, Chochenyo, Karkin, Ramaytush,…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Haida artist

Adze, Haida artist, 4 x 9 ½ x 1 5/8 inches, wood and steatite with abalone shell inlay. A photo of a wooden adze with the head of an animal containing abalone shell facial features. The animal head is at the right side of the woodworking tool and has a small upright ear, large shell eyes, flared nostrils, and a wide mouth showing large shell teeth. The wood is a warm brown and very smooth all over. The abalone shell is a grayish silver with flashes of bright white and deeper tones of gray and brown. Extending from the back of the head to the left is the tool’s cylindrical handle that ends in a point like a short tail. The animal’s neck extends down to the base of the tool with the handle and base connecting at each end and forming a void and room for the artisan’s hand. The base is wrapped with thin strips of dark brown leather that have compacted with use. These leather strips hold a piece of a steatite to the base. The steatite extends back past the end of the adze. Old museum accession numbers are seen at the bottom rear of the base having been added years later.

“The art of the peoples of the Northwest Coast is often represented by large-scale, heroic sculptural works, complex masks, and other regalia that represent and celebrate their clans. These works were created for communities and large audiences. This elegant wooden adze, however, was seen primarily by an audience of one: probably the Haida artist who…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: James Lavadour

Mandatory, James Lavadour, 17 ¾ x 13 1/8, color monotype on paper. A vertical rectangular print showing a red, armless figure, just right of center, against a background of smudged, scraped and blended earth tones. The figure has the suggestion of a head, its outline incised in the paint revealing the cream-colored base below. The ribs, torso, pelvis, and the legs are covered in a sheer wash of the red color that fades away at the bottom along with the lower legs and feet of the figure. The red color arcs from the figure’s head to the left becoming a muddier brown and continues off the work. The figure is placed on a background of earthy brown paint tones which look as if they have been scraped, moved, and manipulated by palette knives and brushes. The effect is sharper, harsher, and darker at the bottom of the monotype and more blended, softer, and lighter at the top half. The right edge of the print from top right to lower right darkens to very deep brownish black.

“Those familiar with the work of renowned Oregon artist James Lavadour (Walla Walla, b. 1951) may be surprised to encounter this expressive and figurative monotype. Lavadour is best known for his passionate and richly hued paintings, drawn from his experience of the lands near his home on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Lillian Pitt

Dancing in the Wind, Lillian Pitt, 14 ¾ x 5 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches, clay, beads, wood, and wire. A photo of a sculpture composed of three main parts: a body, a base, and a finial. The pale-beige clay body is shaped like a vertical rectangle with rounded corners and is highly textured with imprinted patterns. The bottom right corner is rounded off further than the other corners. The imprinted patterns appear to have been made with shells and form concentric semicircles similar to how the bands of a rainbow are arranged. A row each of scallop and nautilus shell imprints form arcs on their sides starting at the top and ending at the bottom. The balance of the body is dotted with the indentations of shell markings overall. Protruding irregularly from the right side of the body are bent copper wires with amber colored beads at the ends. Each wire is bent differently. The body is attached to a thick, chunky wood base by a short, metal rod. The blond wood of the base is traversed with thin dark lines that seem to outline the grain. At top, the finial is connected to the body by clay and is an irregular spherical shape with metal rods radiating out at 9, 12, 2, and 3 o’clock. At 10 o’clock, a copper wire curves into a spiral.

Lillian Pitt, Dancing in the Wind, 1998, clay, beads, wood, and wire, Gift of Allan and Lenore Sindler, © Lillian L. Pitt, 2006.54.4 Even in its stillness, this piece by Lillian Pitt feels alive, full of movement, ready to dance. Our words can also carry motion, inviting us into imaginative spaces where we are floating,…  Read more

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Back to School Resources

Jamie Sabo, Age 4, Journal On! Artist

Welcome to a new school year unlike any other! Here at the Museum, we feel sad that we will not see throngs of students jostling to get in the front doors—at least for the foreseeable future. But we are excited to connect with educators, parents, and students at all levels through distance learning resources and…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Wally Dion

Green Star Quilt, Wally Dion, 75 5/8 x 70, circuit boards, brass wire, copper tube. A large square work composed of circuit boards in various shades of green pieced together like a quilt and connected with brass wire. At center, the circuit boards have been cut into diamond shapes and pieced to form an eight-pointed star. Further diamond shapes surround this star and radiate outward until they create a large star that almost fills the entire work. A thin gold line encompasses the large star forming a square. A border of more circuit boards completes the work. Many shades of green make up the different boards and they are heavily textured with silver and brass colored workings. Small silver balls in rows or patterns dominate the boards along with other metallic geometric shapes. Etched lines in patterns feature in most of the green boards.

“With the vivid, sculptural work, ‘Green Star Quilt,’ artist Wally Dion has cleverly transformed ordinary materials that most people rely upon every day, but do not notice, into a bold work of art. The star pattern is evocative of the quilting tradition practiced among many Native communities in the United States and Canada, but this…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Bernice Akamine

‘ahu ‘ula, Bernice Akamine, size 2 1/2x 5 inches in diameter, dyed goose feathers, copper wire, and glass seed beads. A small, feather-clad, bowl-shaped basket shown from slightly above to provide a view inside. The outside of the basket is covered in overlapping feathers that create dense swaths of bright colors. From left to right, the colors are red, black, and yellow. The colors appear to swirl around the basket on a diagonal with each color of feather blending slightly into the next. Inside, the basket’s structure is revealed to be composed of a series of looped copper wires adorned with alternating small black and white beads. The feathers are clearly visible though the loose weave of the basket’s structure.

Inspiration for our writing comes from all sorts of places, and evoking our senses can provide especially rich imagery and connection. This week, we invite you to spend some time with this Bernice Akamine piece, imagining what it might be like to hold it. To sit with it in your lap. To move it around…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Bertha Harvey

Flag rug, Bertha Harvey, 30 x 60 inches, wool. A woven American flag in traditional colors of bright red, white, and dark blue. The flag has thirteen alternating red and white horizontal stripes with a rectangle of dark blue in the upper-left corner containing fifty stars in rows. The edges are whip stitched with red yarn and the corners end in four strands of knotted red yarn.

“Flags are potent symbols, especially at times like these where we are all thinking about voting in the next election. The shadow of the historically brutal and fraught relationship between Native people and the United States government gives this particular design poignancy in a Native-made artwork. Native American artists have long been attracted to the…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Umatilla artist

Berry bag, Umatilla artist, commercial dyes, buckskin and cotton, size: 10 x 5 ¼ inches in diameter. A tall, cylindrical, woven basket with the image of a portrait surrounded by a black checkerboard pattern. The figure is positioned at the center of the basket, showing the head and upper body. The individual has long black hair, black eyes and brows, and a golden yellow face. Two rose-colored necklaces adorn an off-white shirt. A dark green bar runs along the bottom of the figure. The body of the basket is lilac and the black checkerboard pattern surrounds the figure with two rows of check at top and sides and three rows at bottom. The rim of the basket is covered in a brown corduroy fabric. Two buckskin ties are seen knotted at the back of the rim.

“This bright and cheery ‘Berry Bag’ is part of a much larger tradition of twined bags among tribes in the Columbia Plateau region and are known as ‘Sally Bags.’ The Portland Art Museum has many of these bags which were made in many shapes and sizes, reflecting their use as utilitarian items used for all…  Read more