Artwork copyright Joe Feddersen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2024.

Artwork copyright Joe Feddersen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2024.

Artwork copyright Joe Feddersen. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2024.

Sheltered From Night Rain, 1984

Joe Feddersen
(American | Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, born 1953)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Joe Feddersen's two-paneled landscape 'Sheltered From Nightrain' is comprised of stylized and abstracted patterns evoking rainfall against the horizon. Feddersen states "my work deals with my relationship to my environment, whether past, present, future, remembered or dreamt."

This artwork is part of Beyond Blue Mountains, a collection that was curated by late Tlingit (Native Alaskan) artist Jim Schoppert. It presents the work of Native American artists of diverse heritage, ideas, materials, and styles. The collection takes an in-depth look at the artists’ unique voices and interpretations of tradition.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Department of Corrections.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Celebrated artist Joe Feddersen (Okanagan and Arrow Lakes) explores Indigenous landscapes and icons, and the complex relationship between contemporary and native symbolism. He creates artworks in an array of mediums, including painting, printmaking, photography, collage, and works in glass.

Feddersen was a professor of art at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Western Washington, from 1989 to 2009 and is Emeritus Faculty. He is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington in Seattle and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Feddersen lives and works in the small town of Omak, in Northeastern Washington. In 2025, he was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award.