Artwork copyright James Lavadour. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lavadour. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lavadour. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lavadour. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright James Lavadour. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Untitled (Triptych), 1984

James Lavadour
(American | Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, born 1951)

Location: Cusick School, Cusick

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Native American artist James Lavadour created this three-panel (triptych) painting. Featuring intricately detailed hills and storming skies, it is part of the artist's body of expressive landscape paintings. These works are often inspired by the natural environment of northeastern Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Cusick School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

James Lavadour (Walla Walla) creates expressive paintings and prints that are deeply influenced by the natural environment and geology of Northeast Oregon. He grew up in the foothills of the Blue Mountains on the Umatilla Reservation near Pendleton, Northeast Oregon, and is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla. In his own words, "Everything that is in the land is in me... My art education came from the land. I learned through endless walking, looking, hearing, and feeling the natural world around me." Lavadour has been making artwork for more than four decades.

In 1992, Lavadour co-founded Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, a non-profit organization and printmaking studio on the Umatilla Reservation, near Pendleton, Oregon. The institute provides artist residencies and Indigenous arts workshops. Crow’s Shadow is the only professional fine art print publisher located on a Native American reservation in the United States.