Art Literacy – James Lavadour
James Lavadour – Sun Spots: Red Trees 2007
“I don’t think that a person needs to understand me or my background to benefit from my painting. All that’s required is a receptive heart and an open mind.”
Bonny Slope student artists are studying the life and work of James Lavadour over the next 6 weeks. He was born in 1951 in Pendleton, Oregon, to the Walla Walla Tribe on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
As a young boy, James would take walks with his father through the canyons and gaze at the cliffs and ridges. He found that he had an amazing ability to “see” beyond the obvious. The landscape became figures of humans and animals drumming, singing and dancing. James Lavadour continues these walks today. He does not paint on location or from photographs. Rather he paints from the memories, dreams and images he experiences during his time in nature. Lavadour has been slowly discovered over the years. He has had exhibitions from Oregon to Switzerland. His work can be seen during the month of April at the PDX Contemporary
Gallery in Portland. He continues to paint in the upper story of an abandoned school house, on the Umatilla Reservation. The lower level is The Crows Institute of Arts, which he established in 1992 to provide opportunities for Native American artists. Student artists will create and abstract collage of different mediums while exploring the meanings and emotions connected to color. The lesson is also an exercise in letting art “happen.” Look for examples of their work throughout the school during the next few weeks.
