THE NATIVE ARTS + CULTURE PROJECT
The Native Arts + Culture Project features Native Artists from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs -- providing a platform for showcasing for Indigenous artists to share their lived experiences, both past and present, through their art and culture -- while inviting the Bend community to engage, learn and explore their own understanding of local Native culture.
Project in partnership with Warm Springs Community Action Team and Tananáwit. Murals are located in Tin Pan Alley on Franklin Crossing near the Scalehouse Gallery. Below are the current artists:
Partners:
The Warm Springs Community Action Team is a non-profit community development organization located on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. The Warm Springs Community Action Team envisions a Warm Springs Reservation in which tribal and community members control their own destinies, in which people are in a position to provide for their families, pursue their hopes and dreams, and achieve their full potential.
Tananáwit, a Community of Warm Springs Artists, is a community-based organization whose mission is to provide educational and economic development opportunities by empowering our people and building knowledge and understanding of traditional and contemporary Native art of the Columbia River Plateau.
Scalehouse is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center convening diverse thinkers for in-depth discussions, artistic collaborations, exhibitions and events, including Bend Design Week and Scalehouse Gallery. Scalehouse believes our shared future presents complex challenges and opportunities, not just benefiting from creativity but requiring it. We are committed to programming that’s accessible, provocative, extraordinary and inclusive — always with an eye toward a better future.
Charlene Dimmick:
Charlene Dimmick, enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Dimmick started at a young age creating contemporary and cultural art, and has had the privilege to work with amazing youth on various mural projects in partnership with Warm Springs Community Action Team. Dimmick received her BA at the University of Oregon and later received her MSW degree at Portland State University. She loves working with youth and exposing them to both traditional and modern art along with learning life skills. “I like to use my art as opportunities to teach about our Tribal People and am appreciate the opportunity and glad to expose my work to different people in Central Oregon,”
Alyssia Scott:
Alyssia Scott is 17-year-old member of The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She is in her senior year at Madras High School and specializes in plenty of mediums and practices new skills almost always. The mediums include (but are not limited to): Acrylic painting, sketching, and digital art. My most inspired themes almost always come with an Indigenous flare, based on the experiences of the Native people, past and present. Her main goal with my art is to make something meaningful or to create something that can make anybody feel seen. She’s done community work in Warm Springs, Oregon by making and assisting with murals.
Her art is something very personal to her and she wants her art to be able to be personal to others as well. She likes to specialize in a large amount of mediums so the work has the ability to be diverse and interchangeable. Even to be able to mix mediums and create something different from what she is used to. She is always looking for new ideas and experiences to further my skills and future work in art.
“A lot of my indigenous art is rooted in the past, it’s not about holding on to it; but acknowledging it. I don’t think we should move on from something so terrible, not in a way that’ll erase the lives and culture lost. My indigenous art is rooted in power and peace.”