Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts

Image and publication design by Phil Kovacevich

History

Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts (CSIA) is located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in the foothills of Oregon’s Blue Mountains. Crow’s Shadow is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization formed in 1992 by local artists James Lavadour (Walla Walla) and Phillip Cash Cash (Cayuse and Nez Perce). CSIA's mission is to provide a creative conduit for educational, social, and economic opportunities for Native Americans through artistic development.

Over the last 30 years Crow’s Shadow has evolved into a world-class studio focused on contemporary fine art printmaking. From 2001-2017 Frank Janzen was CSIA’s Master Printer. Under his tenure, Crow’s Shadow increased its focus on artist residencies and the publication and marketing of prints. In 2017, Judith Baumann joined Crow’s Shadow as the new Master Printer.

Printmaking is the sole focus of Crow’s Shadow, however, each year, we host several one- to two-day workshops where participants can learn traditional art forms, such as basket making, beading, and the crafting of horse regalia from master artists.

In 2017, CSIA celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the organization’s founding, with an exhibition curated by Dr. Rebecca Dobkins (Willamette University and Hallie Ford Museum of Art) and an accompanying publication. That year, CSIA also won the Oregon Governor’s Arts Award.

Works published by Crow’s Shadow Press can be found in such major collections as Library of Congress; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Portland Art Museum; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis; Wellin Museum of Art, Cinton, NY; Davis Museum, Wellesley College, MA: , and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Impact Report

In 2022, we published our 30th Anniversary Report. Between 2017 and 2023, we editioned and signed 1,365 prints, 220 people participated in Indigenous Arts workshops, and 28 Nixya’awii students sold prints to the public.

We generated $340,000+ of income for artists through print sales and were part of 24 prominent exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial (NY). 52 of our prints have been collected by the Library of Congress, 120 by the The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, and over 150 by other institutions and museums including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the National Museum of the American Indian.

As we look back on our accomplishments, we are honored to share this report with you and eager to plan Crow's Shadow's future with our community.
Permanent Collection

Crow’s Shadow has grown in both art world stature and programmatic vision, expanding its locally based, service-oriented mission to its current iteration, national in scope. The print studio hosts three to six artists annually for two-week residencies. Each artist works with Master Printer Judith Baumann to produce a lithographic edition or a series of monoprints or monotypes. While marketing these works, Crow’s Shadow retains one example from each edition or series for its permanent collection of over two hundred prints by more than sixty artists-in-residence.

Since 2006, Willamette University’s Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon, has presented biennial exhibitions of prints from Crow’s Shadow. In 2010, the museum established a comprehensive, permanent archive of Crow’s Shadow’s prints. This partnership with the Hallie Ford facilitates scholarly access to the collection both through its online collections and the works on display in the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Gallery. The permanent collection of works housed at Crow’s Shadow are often loaned to various cultural and educational institutions. (Please contact us for lending arrangements and availability.)
People
Meet the dedicated Staff and Board of Crow's Shadow.
Staff
Board of Directors

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