EUGENE–Native American landscape artist James Lavadour will deliver a free public lecture on March 4 while serving as the Oregon Humanities Center’s 1999 Colin Ruagh Thomas O’Fallon Memorial Lecturer in Art and American Culture at the University of Oregon.

Lavadour, a self-taught painter born in 1951 near Pendleton, will discuss "Painting as a Transfiguration of Nature" at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, in Room 115 of Lawrence Hall,
1190 Franklin Blvd. on the UO campus. A reception will follow his presentation.

The son of a member of the Walla Walla tribe, Lavadour is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. In 1992, he founded the Crow’s Shadow Institute to provide Native American artists with a place to work and the equipment and training necessary to develop their art. The institute operates a printmaking studio, a gallery, a photography darkroom and a computer graphics lab on the Umatilla Reservation.

Lavadour describes his images as "emotional and visceral landscapes based on the geography of [his] homeland." As a child he was influenced by his mother’s painting, drawing, bead work and weaving. In recent years Lavadour, an avid hiker, has become interested in landscape painting. Through his art he explores the relationship between physical movement and the forces of Nature.

Lavadour has won many fellowships and awards for his work. Most recently, he was the recipient of the 1998 Award for Painting issued by the Joan Mitchell Foundation of New York. His work has been shown in galleries throughout the United States and in Canada.

The O’Fallon Lecture alternates each year between the topics of law and art in American culture. It was established by a generous gift from Henry and Betsy Mayer in memory of their nephew, son of law professor James O’Fallon and his wife, artist Ellen Thomas.

For information, browse http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~humanctr or call (541) 346-3934.

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