News

James Lavadour's work is included in Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting on view May 15 through Spring 2027 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.

"Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting explores how Native artists challenged perceptions of what constituted art and what Native art could and should look like. Featuring more than 50 works by 46 artists, this exhibition tells the story of how American Indian art expanded after World War I and how Native painters began to advocate for themselves in a world that often ignored their talent. Artists such as Fred Kabotie, Tonita Peña, and Stephen Mopope carved out space for painting at a time when Native art was often dismissed. Later generations—including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kay WalkingStick, Fritz Scholder, James Lavadour, Jeffrey Gibson, Dyani White Hawk, and Athena LaTocha—expanded the field even further, embracing a wide range of approaches. Over the span of ten decades, these artists and their work demonstrated the breadth, complexity, and continuing expansion of Native self-expression."

More information HERE

Tad Savinar was interviewed by Brian Libby for Oregon ArtsWatch. Read the conversation discussing his current show and his multidisciplinary career HERE.

Tad Savinar’s exhibition 2025: A Logbook Through Darkness remains on view through March 28.

D.E. May's retrospective exhibition D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem was reviewed in Oregon ArtsWatch.

D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem remains on view at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art through March 21, 2026.

Read the full review HERE

James Lavadour's traveling retrospective, now at The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, WA, was reviewed in the Inlander.

Read the full review HERE

Marjorie Dial's exhibition Materia Anima at PCC Rock Creek's Helzer Gallery was reviewed in Oregon ArtsWatch by Prudence Roberts.

"Marjorie Dial: Eloquence of the archetype

The ceramics and prints in "Materia Anima" at PCC Rock Creek's Helzer Gallery channel millennia of ritual and material memory."

Read the review HERE

Marie Watt’s traveling solo exhibition, Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt, From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, opens at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts February 21, 2026 – June 21, 2026

More Infomation HERE

Marie Watt's solo exhibition Heart in the Sky us now on view at the Philbrook Museum through June 14, 2026.

The exhibition includes the artist’s monumental silver cloud forms made from jingles (rolled tobacco tin lids), and a large neon work composed of the names of the thirteen moons that mark a year for the Seneca and other Haudenosaunee tribes.

For more information: https://philbrook.org/exhibitions/marie-watt-heart-in-the-sky/

Marie Watt's new work Thirteen Moons is now on view in HERE AND NOW. De/Collecting Memories from Turtle Island at the Museum Ludwig through November 2026.

"Marie Watt has created a new, expansive work for the exhibition at the Museum Ludwig. Thirteen Moons  consists of thirteen suspended sculptures made of tin bells. Clouds of bells float between heaven and earth. They only sound when touched by other bells or objects. The sculptures may be touched, the tin bells may be set in motion, producing a clinking and rustling sound. Thirteen Moons unfolds a physical, visual, and auditory presence in the space. And it references indigenous traditions."

More informatio HERE 

Marjorie Dial's work is included in Thinking Through Mud: Arrangements of Clay + Ikebana, co-curated by Morgan Ritter & Jeffry Mitchell, at The Arts Council of Lake Oswego.

"This exhibition throws forth a new image of contemporary ceramics, with work that feels human, fecund, and sometimes deliberately rough. Seven Oregon-based artists include James Alby, Lisa Conway, Marjorie Dial, Nick Norman, Ben Killen Rosenberg, Ben Skiba, and ahuva s. zaslavsky and their works are complimented by ikebana students’ work from Renka Ikebana. These artists are united by a shared way of thinking through their hands and arriving at unexpected, visceral work. Within their craft, skill is not performed. Instead, the work demonstrates care and curiosity for the process of making."

The show is on view February 20-April 10, 2026, with an opening reception Friday, February 20, 2026, 5:30-7:30pm.

For more information: https://artscouncillo.org/mud

We are excited to share that James Lavadour’s retrospective exhibition, James Lavadour: Land of Origin, will be traveling to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, WA,  January 31-June 7, 2026.

"James Lavadour: Land of Origin presents the most comprehensive survey to date of works by painter and printmaker James Lavadour (Walla Walla). Spanning five decades of work, this national retrospective celebrates Lavadour’s deep connection to the eastern Oregon landscape, particularly the Umatilla Indian Reservation and surrounding Blue Mountains region where the artist has spent most of his life, and recognizes his esteemed place in contemporary American painting. The exhibition includes Lavadour’s magnificent signature grid paintings, works on individual panels, and prints, most of which have never been exhibited together. It will draw on significant loans from the artist, major museum collections, and private lenders. Recognizing one of Oregon and the nation’s most original and powerful artists, James Lavadour: Land of Origin will also be accompanied by a full catalogue."

More information HERE

James Lavadour: Land of Origin
January 31-June 7, 2026

Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture
2316 West 1st Avenue
Spokane, Washington 99201

Regular Museum and Store Hours

Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am-5 pm
Last Wednesday of the month, 10 am-8 pm