Since 2010, Maryhill Museum’s collection of contemporary Indigenous art has greatly expanded. The museum is now home to more than 60 works by regional artists that include Rick Bartow (Wiyot), Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama), and Joe Feddersen (Okanagan and Arrow Lakes). Diné (Navajo) artists Shonto Begay, Marwin Begaye, and Will Wilson are also represented in the collection, as are Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) and Merlin Little Thunder (Southern Cheyenne). Northwest/Southwest draws on this work and select loans from public and private collections to present an overview of some of the diverse expressions that have been produced in the Indigenous community during the last four decades.

Image: Pat Courtney Gold (Wasco/Tlingit, b. 1939), Sally’s Hidden Secret, 1999, cotton and chenille yarn, beads and denim rim, 6” x 5”; Museum purchase with funds provided by Wildhorse Casino and Resort, 2017.7.3

Maryhill features several special exhibitions annually. These exhibitions are on view for a limited run, highlighting a variety of works from the museum’s collection as well as featuring some of the region’s most well-known contemporary artists. Click here for more information on the following current special exhibitions.

Northwest/Southwest: Indigenous Art After 1980
March 15 – November 15, 2022

Ornithology: Avian Imagery from the Permanent Collection
March 15 – November 15, 2022

Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry: Silver, Turquoise, Coral, and Shell
March 15 – November 15, 2022

Turquoise has been known for centuries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and throughout the ancient world. In the Western Hemisphere, the Aztecs utilized quantities of it, and, in the American Southwest, Indigenous peoples have worked with turquoise for more than a millennium. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Diné (Navajo) and Pueblo artists began creating jewelry combining turquoise stones with silver settings — work that is now synonymous with Southwestern artistic expression. Maryhill’s 2022 exhibition of silver and turquoise jewelry features late 20th-century examples drawn from private collections.

Image: Left: Unknown Diné (Navajo) maker, Silver and turquoise bracelet, c. 1980, 4½” x 4” x 2½”; Right: Tommy Singer (Diné [Navajo], 1940–2014), Silver and turquoise bracelet, c. 2000, 2½” x 2¼” x 2”; Private collection 

Visual and teaching artist Chloë Hight will be creating a woven sculpture with natural material as a part of The Exquisite Gorge Project II: Fiber Arts.

Cordage is a gathering of fiber twisted together to create a more resilient form.  In this class at the The History Museum of Hood River County, Chloë Hight will lead students in making lengths of cordage using a variety of locally gleaned plant materials like daylily, cattail,  iris, and Himalayan blackberry (plant selection is seasonally dependent). We will explore the significance that cordage carries as a traditional hand technology that is an innate part of the human story and our connection to place.

Cost: FREE; workshop is limited to 15 participants, so register early! 

Painters from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond gather to capture the splendor of the Columbia River Gorge during a four-day paint out..  After four days of painting en plein air, works are displayed at Maryhill, with prizes awarded to the most exceptional works. Awards will be given in a number of categories, including “Best Sky,” “Best Mountain,” “Best Water,” “Maryhill Museum Award,” and a museum purchase award.

Paintings are available for purchase in the Event Sales Gallery in the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Education Center. Proceeds support Maryhill Museum of Art. As work is sold and removed, other work created during the paint-out will replace it.

Image: Yong Hong Zhong (Lake Oswego, OR), Under the Sandy River Bridge, 2021, watercolor, 10” x 13”; Collection of Maryhill Museum of Art