James Lavadour

I use two elemental structures, a landscape and an architectural abstraction (a vortex and a grid). There’s the flow of landscape and then the intersection of the architectural structure, which is just like being in a room looking out a window, with floors, angles, walls, doors, ceilings, pathways. A painting is a complex event with many things going on at multiple levels. Close, far, color, layers, scrapes, and drips all swirled around by memories. I keep it all organized with structure. Structure is the bed to the river. - James Lavadour

I'm a tribal member and grew up on the Umatilla reservation, and I love it there. One of the aspects of tribal life is that the land and I are one. - 2005

In the 1990s Lavadour started to explore printmaking. The melding of printmaking with his painting led to complex layer usage in these new works. The layering technique of printmaking makes the geological features of the landscape look like maps or as if they are moving. These new works have also been compared to the art of Gerhard Richter. He also began to explore other themes, influenced by his interest in Chinese painting, abstract expressionism and jazz music (specifically John Coltrane), however, landscapes continue to be the basis for his work.

Motivated by his experiences as a fellow at Rutgers University, in 1990 Lavadour co-founded Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, a non-profit arts organization that brings "technology, instruction and cultural exchange" to artists on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Exhibiting in Seattle, Washington since the 1970s, Lavadour's first major exhibitions came with his involvement in Sacred Circle, a Native American art gallery.

James Lavadour (born 1951) is an American painter and printmaker. A member of the Walla Walla tribe, he is known for creating large panel sets of landscape paintings. Lavadour is the co-founder of the Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts.

James Lavadour was born in 1951 to parents of Chinook, Walla Walla, German, Irish, Assiniboine, and French Canadian descent in Pendleton, Oregon. Discovering his love for painting as a child, Lavadour never completed high school, however he was encouraged by his family to explore his artistic endeavors. As a child he was inspired by what he described as "The Sistine Chapel": the peeling and water stained ceiling of his grandmothers house, with its drips and exposed layers, a visual experience that would influence his work for the rest of his life.