Prints from Crow's Shadow

Highpoint Center for Printmaking is very excited to announce the opening of Prints from Crow’s Shadow, an exhibition featuring prints from The Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts’ (CSIA) highlighting 30 years of collaborative commitment to indigenous artists and fine art printmaking.

Located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation outside of Pendleton, OR, CSIA is a non-profit organization committed to providing a creative conduit for educational, social, and economic opportunities for Native Americans through artistic development.

Crow’s Shadow, their residency program and their commitment to supporting indigenous and marginalized voices has done much to usurp and guide the conversation surrounding work made by indigenous artists. Alex Cipolle wrote in 2019 for The New York Times that Crow’s Shadow has helped transform and subvert the idea that indigenous art is “less art than artifact.”

Heather Ahtone, senior curator at the First Americans Museum (Oklahoma City), curated a show in 2015 titled Enter the Matrix: Indigenous Printmakers. The exhibition explored how printmaking has become a means of cultural exchange for indigenous artists. As noted by Ms. Ahtone:

“Historically, for oral-based cultural communities, paper has been used as a weapon of cultural dominance, facilitating dispossession of lands and forced cultural assimilation. For indigenous artists, using paper as a medium for artistic expression has become a significant form of self-determination that fosters dialogue about issues of culture and identity, contributing to cultural survival.”

Selections from Crow’s Shadow were included in that exhibition, along with pieces from other private collections and institutions. Ms. Ahtone has called out Crow’s Shadow as one of a few institutions which have had a critical role in providing educational, technical and creative opportunities to Native American and indigenous artists.

This stunning exhibition at Highpoint will feature a wide variety of prints published by Crow’s Shadow Press in collaboration with artists of a diversity of background and media. Thursday, May 20 from 1-2pm, we will be hosting a virtual conversation with MN-based artist and Crow’s Shadow collaborator Jim Denomie. Visit our website for more information, as well as the link to attend. We are grateful to have the opportunity to bring a selection of CSIA’s important work to share with the Twin Cities community.

Featured artists:

• Rick Bartow
• Vanessa Enos
• Whitney Minthorn
• Marwin Begaye
• Ka’ila Farrell-Smith
• Ryan Pierce
• Yoonhee Choi
• John Feodorov
• Lillian Pitt
• Jovencio de la Paz
• Yatika Fields
• Samantha Wall
• Jim Denomie
• Ric Gendron
• Marie Watt
• Modou Dieng
• Jennfrey Gibson
• Shirod Younker
• Daniel Duford
• Yoshihiro Kitai

PLEASE NOTE: Gallery viewing hours are Monday through Friday, 10am-4pm and Saturdays from 12-4pm. A maximum of 10 people will be allowed in the gallery at a time and visitors are required to wear a mask while inside Highpoint. Please call or visit highpointprintmaking.org for more information on visitor protocol. 

Image Credit: Marwin Begaye (Navajo/Diné), Columbia River Custodian (detail),  Eight-color lithograph on Rives BFK white paper.