James Lavadour

James Lavadour is a self-taught painter who has exhibited frequently in the Northwest and around the United States. He grew up in the foothills of the Blue Mountains on the Umatilla Reservation near Pendleton, Oregon and the rugged geography of the region has inspired his work and practice. He has exhibited internationally, notably at the 2013 Venice Biennale. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, Maryhill Museum of Art, and the Eiteljorg Museum of the American Indian and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lavadour received an Award for Visual Arts from the Flintridge Foundation, Pasadena, California, in 2004 and an Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Eastern Oregon University in 1999.

In addition to his distinguished career as an artist, Lavadour founded the Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1992 and is past-president and current board member of the institute.