Native Artists create works for a new exhibition at the High Desert Museum

The original exhibit Creations of Spirit will be open at the High Desert Museum opening January 28, 2023, and will run through October 1, 2023

News announcement from High Desert Museum

For many Native communities throughout the High Desert, what constitutes art spans beyond the walls of a gallery or a museum. Objects are alive, tied to purpose and intrinsic to thriving communities. Art is at once utilitarian and ceremonial, as well as part of the continuation of Native traditions.

Opening on January 28, 2023, Creations of Spirit will immerse High Desert Museum visitors in the Indigenous Plateau worldview, reflecting knowledge systems of tribes along the Columbia River and its tributaries.

Six Native artists commissioned for this new, original exhibition are creating artwork that will be used in Native communities before arriving at the Museum. A seventh artist is creating an interactive piece for the center of the gallery. Creations of Spirit will be a one-of-a-kind, celebratory experience featuring the stories of these living works of art. Videos, audio and large projections will immerse visitors in the landscapes and communities in which these objects are used, highlighting the theme of artwork as alive, full of stories and created for specific purposes and people. The original works will be supplemented with nine artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

“The works offered by these deeply gifted and knowledgeable artists will be used in their communities to teach and share traditions,” said Museum Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D. “And the objects will continue to be available to Native communities to use even after Creations of Spirit closes as part of the Museum’s collection. We plan for community members to continue to access these objects.”

About the Native artists

The artists in Creations of Spirit have roots throughout the Plateau region.

Joe Feddersen (Colville) is an acclaimed contemporary sculptor, basket weaver, painter, photographer and mixed-media artist who created a basket for the exhibition that will be used to harvest roots in the spring. Feddersen, a member of the Colville Confederated Tribal Arts and Humanities Board, received the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art award in 2021 and is one of six Indigenous artists to be featured in the 2023 Renwick Gallery Invitational at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Joe Feddersen (Colville) is an acclaimed contemporary sculptor, basket weaver, painter, photographer and mixed-media artist who created a basket for the exhibition that will be used to harvest roots in the spring. (Courtesy image)

RYAN! Feddersen (Colville) is a well-known regional artist working on an art piece for the center of the Creations of Spirit gallery. Feddersen grew up in Wenatchee, Washington and is now based in Tacoma. Her visual artwork utilizes metaphor, history, Plateau storytelling and pop culture influences. Her large-scale pieces have been shown at the Seattle Art Museum, Museum of Art & History Santa Cruz, Burke Museum and Portland Art Museum.

RYAN! Feddersen (Colville) is a well-known regional artist working on an art piece for the center of the Creations of Spirit gallery. (Courtesy image)

Natalie Kirk (Warm Springs) is weaving two baskets that will be used to educate youth through schools and community programs. Kirk considers herself a contemporary weaver who has shown her artwork at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in partnership with the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Natalie Kirk (Warm Springs) is weaving two baskets that will be used to educate youth through schools and community programs. (Courtesy image)

H’Klumaiyat Roberta Joy Kirk (Wasco, Warm Springs, Diné) is creating regalia for young women to wear during special ceremonies. Kirk has spent her life sewing and beading since her family lost priceless family heirlooms in a house fire as a young girl. She passes down the intricate art of Plateau beadwork through classes and mentoring. Kirk was a recipient of the 2020 Governor’s Arts Award.

Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D. (Cayuse, Nez Perce) is producing traditional Plateau flutes that he will play to teach others about their cultural significance. Cash Cash is an artist, writer, endangered language advocate and linguistic anthropology scholar. As a fluent Nez Perce speaker, he works with communities and professional organizations to promote cultural advocacy, identity and communication. He co-founded the Luk’upsiimey/North Star Collective, which supports Indigenous artists and writers. Cash Cash serves on the board of the Endangered Language Fund and the Native Voices Endowment.

Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D. (Cayuse, Nez Perce) is creating traditional Plateau flutes that he will play to help teach others about their cultural significance. (Courtesy image)

Jefferson Greene (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) is constructing a tule reed canoe and paddles used by Native youth in continuing important cultural traditions. Greene is an executive at the Columbia River Institute for Indigenous Development Foundation and an Ichishkiin who offers classes to students, kindergarten to the professional level, in language, arts, and language instructor. Greene is also an artist who offers classes to students, from kindergarten to professional levels, in language, arts, sports, health and spiritual education.

Jefferson Greene (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) is constructing a tule reed canoe and paddles that will be used by Native youth in continuing important cultural traditions. (Courtesy image)

Kelli Palmer (Wasco, Warm Springs) is creating a traditional corn husk hat known as a Patłapa. Palmer grew up on the Warm Springs Reservation. At a Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association gathering, Palmer’s mother tricked her into walking around the room. Palmer attended her first class, and she’s been weaving ever since. She now teaches basketry classes throughout Oregon and Washington. Among numerous awards, she received Best in Show at the Tribal Member Art Show in Warm Springs in 2009 and Honorable Mention in 2011.

Kelli Palmer (Wasco, Warm Springs) is creating a traditional corn husk hat known as a Patłapa. She also teaches traditional basketry classes throughout Oregon and Washington. (Courtesy image)

The original exhibit Creations of Spirit will be open at the High Desert Museum through Sunday, October 1, 2023.

Learn more at highdesertmuseum.org/creations-of-spirit.

Creations of Spirit is made possible by Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, Central Oregon Daily, Ford Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Old Mill District, Oregon Community Foundation and Oregon Heritage Commission with support from Bend Magazine, Cascade A&E and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM:

The HIGH DESERT MUSEUM opened in Bend, Oregon, in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association’s Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow them on FacebookInstagram and Twitter.