By Oregon Coast TODAY
Like rivulets joining to create a stream, the three galleries of the Newport Visual Arts Center and the Olive Street Gallery at the Newport Performing Arts Center will unite for a singular show, “Where Waters Meet,” opening Saturday, June 1.
Honoring heritage while establishing new paths of contemporary expression, five talented artists from diverse backgrounds and tribes will present photography, videography, installation, painting, sculpture and basketry.
An opening reception for all four exhibits will take place at both venues from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Artist talks begin at the Newport Visual Arts Center at 1 p.m. Light refreshments will be served, and DJ True Justice will provide entertainment.
From 2:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, the Olive Street Gallery will be temporarily transformed into a reading room for a leisure-focused arts engagement experience where guests can peruse related art books and chat with the artist.
The show is curated by mixed media Lenape/Nanticoke artist Leonard D. Harmon.
“I’ve been volunteering at the visual arts center for more than two years so when Chasse [Davidson] became director we became friends and I pitched the idea to do the first all-Indigenous show,” he said. “I wanted to spotlight some artists that are absolutely amazing but are just not seen. These are ones that I feel deserve this platform. For example, Booker [Bartow] is an amazing artist and his father is so well known but he isn’t. Yet.”
In the Runyan Gallery, Harmon and Leland Butler, of Grand Ronde/Siletz/Yurok ancestry, will present their collaborative contemporary exhibit, “Walking on Eggshells.” The show will feature photography, film, sculpture and installation components.
“We’ve been working for more than a year now for what will be in the show,” Harmon said. “This is the beginning of a bigger body of work. Both of us are young men so we don’t have a lot of answers but we can represent some of the questions. I grew up an urban Indigenous person on the East Coast and he grew up in Grande Ronde, so it is interesting for us to explore art together coming from these backgrounds that are different in some ways but similar in others.”
Harmon comes from a long line of creators and craftsmen. And while he draws inspiration from his ancestors and tribe, he is primarily self-taught. Curiosity about self, land and people led Butler to photography a decade ago. His sophisticated and often mysterious compositions explore the duality of light and shadow.
Booker Bartow, of Wiyot heritage and son of celebrated artist Rick Bartow, will present his bold and eclectic debut exhibit “South Beach Salamander” in the Upstairs Gallery. Booker’s early years were filled with music, art and long days spent searching for frogs and salamanders in the wetlands near his home. While much of his adult life has been devoted to skateboarding and sharing his love of the sport through videography, he has recently rediscovered his love for visual art.
The intricate and beautiful basketry of traditional weaver Chantele Rilatos, a Siletz tribal member of Yurok descent, will be on display in the COVAS Showcase. Using varied plant materials native to her homelands, she creates woven works representing the land and her ancestors. Currently living in Northern California, Rilatos was born and raised on the Rogue River.
“Basketry is a way of life for my people and my culture,” she said. “We use our baskets for storage, for gathering, we even have watertight baskets. There are not many basket weavers left, certainly not young people. I’ve had a lot of elders pour a lot of their knowledge into me and I want to keep that knowledge alive.”
And at the Olive Street Gallery, “Memories at Night” will feature the large-scale work of multidisciplinary artist Isabella Saavedra, a member of the Pit River Tribe. Saavedra’s work depicts introspective accounts of significant moments ranging from person to viral scale, a subject she refers to as her “Now-isms.” Her work is informed by queerness, radical vulnerability and philosophies of visual sovereignty.
“Some nights, the realms of the spirit world, dream world and the real world exist simultaneously,” she said, “and at these times, one can commune with one’s self, memories and previous versions of themself and consult with spirit guides. This is also the time I most often find myself painting.”
- “Where Waters Meet” will run through June 28 at the Newport Visual Arts Center, 777 N.W. Beach Drive and open noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. “Memories at Night” will run through Aug. 25 at the Olive Street Gallery at the Newport Performing Arts.
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