Artist Joe Feddersen, renowned multidisciplinary artist, is a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes (Okanagan and Arrow Lakes), and currently lives and works in Omak, Washington. While his first career is in printmaking, Feddersen has spent the last four decades creating works in a variety of additional media, including painting, basketry, glass sculpture, photography and computer-generated imagery.

Joe Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), Gathering Under the Stars, 2010, waxed linen, wool, fabric and thread, 8½ x 7½ x 7½”. Collection of the artist; courtesy studio e gallery, Seattle. Photograph by Dean Davis. © Joe Feddersen.

The artist’s deep connection to his culture and landscape has culminated into an impressive retrospective of works currently on view and organized by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. Titled Earth, Water, Sky, the exhibition includes 120 pieces that highlight the “breadth of Joe Feddersen’s oeuvre,” says the museum’s special projects curator, Rachel Allen.

“From his early days on the Colville Reservation, a sovereign territory that overlaps the border between the United States and Canada, to his professional career that carried him to international sites, Feddersen’s keen observation and intuitive reading have produced a lifetime of work that speaks to a distinctively American experience,” Allen continues. “Moving fluidly between each medium, he has cultivated a visual vernacular that draws upon recognizable signs, symbols and forms.”

Joe Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), Drizzle, 2016, relief and stencil monoprint with collage, staples and spray paint, 20½ x 18”. Collection of the artist; courtesy studio e gallery, Seattle. Photograph by Dean Davis. © Joe Feddersen.

Feddersen echoes that his work is a response to the world around him, which includes narrative components. “Most recently,” the artist says, “I saw a national news release that spoke to the 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops residential school. My grandparents survived this institute, though I don’t know how many relatives didn’t. I made a root bag and a ceramic piece all with 215 skulls representing the unmarked graves. I felt the need to visualize the impact on such a small community. I also didn’t want the incident to vanish from public view.”

The exhibition is organized into three thematic categories, per the title of the show: Earth, Water and Sky. Included are the artist’s traditional, Plateau-style baskets (of which he is most known) like Gathering the Stars—a basket that features an unusual amount of color, as the artist prefers to create in black and white. Feddersen explains that there’s a “row of beings at the bottom of the basket that show an affiliation to a spirit or reference to an animal. Above them is a star and butterfly design.” The artist’s baskets are primarily used for and inspired by tribal root ceremonies.

Joe Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), Floating By, 2020, blown glass with enamel, 13 x 9¾ x 9¾”. Collection of the artist; courtesy studio e gallery, Seattle. Photograph by Dean Davis. © Joe Feddersen.Also on display are Feddersen’s “charmed” installation pieces—or charm-like figures that are made of fused glass and are meant to mimic a wind chime. “They cast shadows on the wall and the overlapping forms look like petroglyphs,” says Feddersen. Viewer’s will find additional glass works like the berry basket Floating By; landscape and wildlife paintings like Drizzle and Elk Spotted at Lake; and lithographs like Plateau Geometrics and Wyit View—each showing  unique, colorful patterns of shape.

“Enriched with history, culture and environmental knowledge, Feddersen’s art offers a deep examination of the world around us,” says Allen. “…By offering this journey through multiple perspectives of home, we might consider the landscapes of our homes. In so doing, Feddersen’s work also helps us imagine what is possible. What are the possibilities awaiting us in our home landscapes?

Joe Feddersen (Colville Confederated Tribes), Plateau Geometrics, 2001, lithograph, 16 x 16”. Collection of the artist; courtesy studio e gallery, Seattle. Photograph by Dean Davis. © Joe Feddersen.

Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky closes at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture on January 5, and will travel to the High Desert Museum in September 2025. In addition, the museum features an exhibition catalog that maps Feddersen’s impact across various terrains with graphics, interviews and short texts. 

Through January 5, 2025
Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky 
Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture 2316 W. 1st Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201
(509) 456-3931 www.northwestmuseum.org

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