Native American artists’ work on display at Idaho’s Prichard Gallery
Kicking off the fall season in the University of Idaho’s Prichard Art Gallery is an incredible exhibition featuring four of the Northwest’s leading contemporary Native American artists.
“Recent Work” presents pieces by Oregon artists James Lavadour of Pendleton, Rick Bartow of Newport and Marie Watt of Portland, along with Washington artist Joe Feddersen of Olympia.
The objects in the show are “the expression of deeply rooted sensitivity to detail, subtlety and exceptional powers of observation,” said interim gallery director Julie Galloway. “The use of visual metaphors captures the viewer and draws them into the broader content of the paintings, prints and sculptures.”
Lavadour’s oil paintings reveal his observations of the remote Blue Mountains where he grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation outside of Pendleton, Ore.
Enthralled by the forces of land, energy and water, Lavadour says his abstract landscape paintings are an emotional response to the geography of his youth.
“One of the big reasons I do landscapes is because I see nature as a life-giving force, the source of all things,” Lavadour said in a 2002 interview. Nature “is the ever-giving, ever-revealing phenomena,” he said. “Something that never exhausts its potential in terms of the depth in which you can go into it and discover things.”
Bartow’s use of strong brush strokes and color in his acrylic painting, “Rain Song/Chant Raven,” “evokes in the viewer a feeling of emotional intensity and inner struggle,” said Galloway.
Watt is showing both prints and installation pieces including the delicate and fragile “Robe,” a wall piece made of thread and corn husk.
Feddersen is showing “Okanagon 1,” an immense, 95- by 189-inch relief stencil silagraphic print executed in bold colors and strong geometric patterns.
Upstairs in Prichard Gallery’s balcony alcoves, and in the Reflections Gallery in the Commons building on the UI campus, is “How the Ink Feels.”
The two-venue show, toured by the Friends of William Stafford, is a combination of poetry and graphic work.
“This exhibit shows the beauty of the marriage of text and image as only the fine book or broadside can,” said Galloway. “The content of the prose has a rhythmic quality that is emotionally moving yet provides the soothing quality of the soft winds of a poetry reading.”
An opening reception is Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. in the free gallery, 414 S. Main St. in downtown Moscow.
The work can be seen through Oct. 5 in the Prichard Gallery. Gallery hours through Sept. 4 are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Labor Day and reopens on Sept. 7 with its regular hours of Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The exhibit in the Reflections Gallery in the Commons is up from Wednesday through Sept. 17. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Ukrainian artist at Crawford Gallery
Natalya McCafferty, formerly of Sevastopol, Ukraine, is showing her oil paintings at the Crawford Gallery in Deer Park through Sept. 9.
“The paintings in this show reveal that depicting nature’s ever-varied depth and color, peace and strength” are themes in McCafferty’s work, said gallery manager Brenda Lippert in an e-mail.
A closing reception for the artist is Sept. 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery, 316 E. Crawford. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Battell at Borders Books
The “Dumpster Art” of Jim Battell opens on Sunday at Borders Book and Music, 9980 N. Newport Highway.
For the past couple of years the self-taught artist has been creating paintings on recycled cardboard.
“One man’s cardboard is another man’s treasure,” wrote Battell in a news release. “I’ve always loved making something out of nothing.”
He is showing colorful landscapes, narrative portraits, offbeat still lifes and abstracts in the Contempo Gallery space at Borders.
View the work Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
WSU CUB Gallery reopens
For its first show of the college year, the Compton Union Gallery on the Washington State University campus in Pullman is featuring “Family Fables,” a series of mixed media paintings by Sally Graves Machlis.
In a statement, Machlis says her artistic expression often begins with personal recollection. Exploration of family biography and memory was the basis for this exhibition
The free gallery is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Art Works Gallery
Lynn Piper will demonstrate her weaving on Saturday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Art Works Gallery in Sandpoint.
Piper specializes in weaving chenille scarves, sometimes incorporating other types of yarns. This gives different weights, heavy and light, and the ability to weave structures into her work. The use of rayon chenille gives the material a soft feel.
Art Works Gallery shows objects created by more than 60 local and regional artists. The gallery, 309 N. First Ave., is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Woven rugs in Moscow
Another weaver, this one working with rugs, is hanging his designs in Moscow (Idaho) City Hall, 206 E. Third St.
Peder Johansen, a fourth-generation fabric artist, began weaving three years ago. Since then he’s made four trips to Finland to study Nordic rug techniques at a weaving studio in Joensuu. The Moscow artist’s designs are influenced by what he sees on his travels.
View the works weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Other galleries
• “Mel McCuddin: Retro Mel” oil paintings are on view through Sept. 17 at Irv’s Jewelry, Rocks and Gifts at 11907 E. Trent Ave. in Spokane Valley. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• The Old Hotel Art Gallery, 33 E. Larch St. in Othello, Wash., is showing the fine inks of artist Eric Black from Hood River, Ore., beginning Wednesday. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.