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News Release

Frank S. Matsura: Portraits From The Borderland Opens February 1 At The High Desert Museum (Photo) -01/27/25

New exhibition examines Indigenous representation and identity during a period of regional transformation

 

BEND, OR -- In 1903, having immigrated from Japan, Frank Sakae Matsura (1873-1913) arrived in newly incorporated Okanogan County along the U.S.--Canadian border in Washington state. Matsura had been formally trained in photography and established a studio in the small town of Okanogan, a cultural and geographic "borderland" where he, as an outsider, witnessed a time of change in the region.

 

In his studio, Matsura created detailed portraits of the Indigenous people of the region. More than a century later, his work is now receiving attention as some of the most visually potent and nuanced images of Indigenous peoples from the era--conceptually sophisticated and collaborative portraits of individuals and families with whom he maintained trusting relationships. The detailed images share their lived experiences and converging customs during a time of transition.

 

Matsura's work will be shared in a new exhibition opening February 1, 2025, at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. Frank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland will feature 39 photographs recovered from Matsura's archive paired with period-specific cultural items from the Indigenous Plateau, a High Desert region that encompasses the Columbia River and its tributaries. Exploring Indigenous representation through detailed photography as well as objects, the exhibition spotlights some of Matsura's most culturally significant work against a backdrop of regional transformation in the early 20th century.

 

The exhibition originated at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Wash. Matsura's photographs are blown up to better share their impressive detail. They capture moments that reveal Syilx (Okanogan) communities adapting to a changing time. The exhibition includes cultural objects, such as gloves, beaded cornhusk bags and leggings, drawn from the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture's collection and from the Doris Swayze Bounds collection at the High Desert Museum. They will be next to Matsura's photographs to bring to life attire featured in Matsura's photographs.

 

"By sharing Frank Matsura's compelling photographs alongside objects and contemporary videography, this exhibition offers a rich exploration of Indigenous communities and stories in the Plateau region," said Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D.

 

Washington State University Associate Professor Michael Holloman (Colville Confederated Tribes), a curator of the original exhibition, is helping guide the High Desert Museum's exhibition. He will also soon publish a book about Matsura's life with PA Press/Chronicle Books. Holloman calls Matsura a fascinating figure who made choices that raise more questions than answers--including why he left Japan, briefly settled in Seattle, where there was a significant-size Japanese immigrant community, and then left again to make a home east of the Cascade mountains in the very rural Okanogan region of the Columbia River Plateau.

 

Immediately, Matsura became a popular member of the Okanogan community, and 10 years later when he died suddenly, his funeral became a community-wide event. During his lifetime, Matsura attracted many people from across the region for portraiture, including individuals and families from upper Indigenous Plateau tribal communities. Among Matsura's total body of work are visually potent, intimate and collaborative studio portraits telling nuanced stories of regional Indigenous identity.

 

"Frank clearly was personable and had a sense of humor, and he clearly developed relationships with the people he photographed," Holloman said. "As a Japanese immigrant he was also new to cultures in North America and in the region where he settled, which perhaps freed him to approach portraiture without enforcing the stereotypes that were common at that time."

 

The exhibition has four themes: The Myth of the Vanishing Indian, Beauty and Utility, Collapsing Hierarchy and Geijutsu Shashin (Photographic Art). Each theme considers various ways in which Matsura's artistic legacy challenges stereotypes, unsettles power dynamics in image-making, and fills important gaps in historical and regional narratives.

 

Unlike some of his contemporaries, whose work reinforced erroneous beliefs that Indigenous people would soon disappear, Matsura's portraits share Indigenous people choosing their own identities. Gingham and plaid, work wear and crocheted accessories blend fluidly with "trade blankets," glass beads and natural ancestral materials. Instead of nostalgia, Matsura's portraits point to an ongoing and complex cycle of reinvention.

 

The Plateau cultural belongings and regalia featured in Matsura's portraiture are at once functional, vibrant and symbolic. Some materials, like buckskin, evoke durability and continuity. Others, like glass beads introduced by the fur trade, represent invention and transition. Floral motifs embellishing many of these items are influenced by European embroidery patterns, translated into regionally specific iconography meaningful to Plateau communities.

 

Paired with cultural items in the gallery, Holloman said, "these objects bring Matsura's photographs into living color."

 

In addition, a video by filmmaker and storyteller LaRonn Katchia (Warm Springs, Wasco, Paiute) will greet visitors outside the exhibition gallery. Featured will be contemporary stories of three young, vibrant and accomplished women from The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs: Kahmussa Green, Miss Warm Springs and advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women; Thyreicia Simtustus, an aspiring pilot breaking barriers in aviation; and Kiahna Allen, a passionate kayaker launching her own nonprofit. They will appear in both contemporary dress and traditional regalia, showcasing the continuum of culture and tradition from the past to the present day.

 

"These women are not only redefining leadership as Indigenous people today but are also bringing their traditional values with them, embodying the essence of who we are today," Katchia said.

 

Frank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland is organized by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and was curated by Holloman and Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture Associate Curator of Special Projects Anne-Claire Mitchell. The exhibition will be on view through September 7, 2025.

 

Generous support for the exhibition is provided by Art Bridges. It's also made possible by Bigfoot Beverages, Brooks Resources Corporation, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Old Mill District, the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the Visit Bend Cultural Tourism Fund and the Visit Central Oregon Future Fund with support from Cascade A&E Magazine, OnPoint Community Credit Union and Travel Oregon.

 

 

 

About the High Desert Museum

The High Desert Museum opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America's High Desert region. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association's Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

About Art Bridges

Art Bridges is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton. The mission of Art Bridges is to expand access to American art in all regions across the United States. Since 2017, Art Bridges has been creating and supporting programs that bring outstanding works of American art out of storage and into communities. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of over 220 museums of all sizes and locations to provide financial and strategic support for exhibition development, loans from the Art Bridges Collection, and programs designed to educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local audiences. The Art Bridges Collection represents an expanding vision of American art from the 19th century to present day and encompasses multiple media and voices. For more information, visit www.artbridgesfoundation.org.

 

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Mid Oregon Free Days Return To The High Desert Museum: Enjoy Free Museum Admission January 25 And February 22 (Photo) -01/21/25

BEND, OR — It’s that time of year again! Visit the High Desert Museum during Mid Oregon Credit Union Free Family Saturdays, occurring January 25 and February 22. Everyone can experience the latest exhibits, dynamic wildlife encounters and more for free.

 

“We are once again excited to welcome our community to Free Family Saturdays,” said Museum Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D. “They’ve always been a very popular event and an amazing way to witness and explore the educational mission of the Museum.”

 

Along with free admission, Museum visitors can look forward to a special Daily Schedule. Guests will have the opportunity to meet a nonreleasable raptor in the Museum’s care during the Bird of Prey Encounters happening every hour between 11:00 am – 3:00 pm.

 

“Mid Oregon is proud to have partnered with the High Desert Museum for over 21 years, providing free access to tens of thousands of Central Oregonians,” said Kyle Frick, VP of Marketing for Mid Oregon Credit Union. “The Museum is a cultural treasure for Central Oregon, and we appreciate the opportunity to continue support for this great organization.”

 

The Museum’s exhibition Rick Bartow: Animal Kinship, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, will be open during the first Free Family Saturday on January 22. The exhibit, which closes February 9, features one of Oregon’s most celebrated artists. Rick Bartow (Mad River Band of the Wiyot Tribe, d. 2016) was born in Newport, Oregon, and grew up with close ties to the Siletz community. Nearly two dozen artworks, including two-dimensional and sculptural pieces, were selected for the exhibition, which is the third part in a yearlong collaborative series with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. The work spans the final three decades of Bartow’s career. 

 

Other ongoing exhibitions include Neighbors: Wildlife Paintings by Hilary Baker. The exhibit shares imagery of wildlife native to the High Desert — gray fox, black bear, pronghorn antelope and others. They stand in the foreground with urban encroachment in the background such as a fox on railroad tracks or a black bear in front of a 7-Eleven. Hilary Baker, born in 1948, spent her childhood exploring the hills and canyons near her home in Los Angeles, searching for animal bones and other evidence of creatures amid the backdrop of the bustling city. This desire to collect natural elements from a vanishing world became the inspiration for her art series Predators. The works in the exhibition at the Museum are from this series.

 

Blood, Sweat & Flannel, an original Museum exhibition, explores what flannel represents—its history, cultural connections and production—with imagery, tactile elements and interactive displays that bring to life the experiences of those who wore flannel. From timber to ranching, herding and sportswear, and alternative rock, each era espouses that flannel is more than just a fabric. “It’s a symbol of resilience and identity,” said Museum Bonnie Lee and Oliver P. Steele III Curator of Education and Engagement Molly Wilmoth. Visitors can witness how flannel has shifted over time, culminating in its association with the grunge movement of the 1990s.

 

Those who attend the second Mid Oregon Free Family Saturday on February 22 can look forward to visiting two of the Museum’s newest exhibitions. Frank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland opens February 1. Featuring large-scale photographs taken by Japanese photographer Frank Matsura of Native people in the early 1900s, the exhibition features photos that represent some of the most accurate images of Indigenous culture during this period. The raw and sometimes playful characters in the photos challenge the stereotypes about life during that time. Clothing, beaded bags and cornhusk bags from the collections at the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane, Wash., which originated the exhibition, and the High Desert Museum add color to the exhibition. The exhibition is possible with generous support from Art Bridges.

 

A new exhibit opening February 22 invites you to explore the wonders of patterns in nature. Patterns at Play: Fractals in Nature, an original exhibition, showcases how repetition and patterns intertwine in the natural world. The exhibit allows visitors to build their own patterns while an animation creates new fractals right before their eyes.

 

Winter hours are daily from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Learn more about all the Museum’s permanent and changing exhibitions at highdesertmuseum.org/exhibitions.

 

Free Family Saturdays are made possible by Mid Oregon Credit Union.

 

ABOUT THE HIGH DESERT MUSEUM:

 

The High Desert Museum opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association’s Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

 

ABOUT MID OREGON CREDIT UNION:

 

Mid Oregon Credit Union is a full-service, member-owned financial cooperative headquartered in and serving Central Oregonians since 1957. With almost 49,000 members in Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook, Wheeler, Lake, and North Klamath Counties and almost $759 million in assets, Mid Oregon partners with members to meet their financial needs and to help them achieve their dreams. Mid Oregon was named a Top Workplace in Oregon and Southwest Washington for 2022, 2023, and 2024. It was also ranked the #1 credit union in Oregon by Forbes for 2023 and 2024 and received the Bend Bulletin’s Best of the Best of Bend Community Choice Award in the credit union category for 2023 and 2024. For more information about its services and branch locations in Bend, La Pine, Madras, Prineville, Redmond, and Sisters, please visit midoregon.com.

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