The topic is timeless; the exhibit ends soon.
“Picuun: I Am Water,” through Sept. 10 at Moscow Contemporary, 414 S. Main St., explores the critical relationship of rivers and water to the region through a display of canoes, Nimiipuu traditional fishing tools, photographs, video and the written word.
Area rivers’ integral role in agriculture, commerce, recreation and tourism continues to make headlines as leaders weigh options for addressing dwindling salmon runs.
In a much-anticipated statement issued last week by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, they concluded removing the four lower Snake River dams — an option favored by the Nez Perce Tribe — isn’t feasible without infrastructure to replace the shipping they make possible and electricity they generate, though they acknowledged the move eventually should be considered as a measure for saving salmon.
That continuing discussion, part of a decadeslong debate about salmon and dams, makes the gallery’s exhibit especially relevant in its last days, Moscow Contemporary Executive Director Roger Rowley said.
Two canoes – a dugout completed earlier this year by students from Moscow’s Palouse Prairie Charter School and a David Thompson-style cedar plank expedition canoe, also from the school – form the exhibit’s centerpiece, along with a Nez Perce bull boat.
Palouse Prairie Charter School students help construct the canoes as part of an annual program called The Confluence of Cultures.
The 23-foot-long Thompson-style canoe – named for to the British-Canadian explorer, fur trader, and mapmaker – hangs above the gallery’s first floor and can be viewed from the balcony. The bull boat, a basket-like structure, is an example of boats Nimiipuu constructed quickly to cross a river, including when being attacked by U.S. Cavalry, Rowley said.
Text panels accompanying the exhibit include excerpts from blog entries by former Nez Perce Tribe General Council member Gary Dorr, founder of Nimiipuu 54, a nongovernmental organization focused on treaty rights and environmental justice.
Photographs are by Portland-based Robbie McClaran and Washington State University’s Dennis DeHart, who also contributed video, including of salmon from water level in a shallow creek, drone footage over the Snake River canyon and footage taken underwater, looking to the sun.
“It’s kind of a very meditative, slow motion kind of thing,” Rowley said.
The exhibit won’t be the last at the now year-old gallery — it celebrated its anniversary last month — to engage with issues such as the environment and politics, Rowley said.
“We do want to keep a pretty consistent focus on local issues,” he said.
Moscow Contemporary's next exhibit opens Oct. 10 with geometric abstractions in a variety of mediums, including acrylics, hot and cold wax and encaustic, by Hamilton, Mont.-based artist Pamela Caughey, whose work can be viewed at pamelacaughey.com.
Stone (she/her) can be reached at mstone@inland360.com.