OHS Exhibits: Tears and Rain: One Artist's View from Sea Level

Abstract

OHS EXHIBITS Tears and Rain One Artist's ViewfromSea Level byRebecca J. Dobkins RICK BARTOW'SWORK AFFIRMS thepower of close observation and the interconnectedness of humanity with all forms of life.Accepting his invita tion to seemore carefully and to feel connections more deeply brings us a greater understanding of thisplace we now call Oregon. Bartow's source of sight isgrounded in close observation of his surroundings on the Oregon coast and inunderstanding thatwhich isnot immediately obvious: the pres ence of thepast, the impact of change, the stories that lurkwithin every crea ture and corner. Bartow's work isprovocative, insis tent,and engaging. For some, the mul tiple layersof significance inhis images maybe ambiguous or hard to read. But careful looking rewards viewers, who are invited to recognize their place in the network of human-animal kin relations thatBartow reveals. Bartow's embrace of aesthetic traditions across time and place leaves open an invita tion for the viewer tomeet his work at various intersections. He draws on his Native heritage but defies simple categorization as a "Native American artist." In addition tomany contem porary indigenous artists, he counts as influences European artists who work expressionistically with human and animal forms andwho explore the fantastic and the emotional, including Marc Chagall (Russian, 1887-1985), Francis Bacon (British, 1909-1992), Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), and Horst Janssen (German, 1929 1995)- Ultimately, however, Bartow's work has its genesis in the land and lightof his home place. Bartow was born in Newport, Oregon, in 1946.His family has been in Oregon nearly a hundred years. In 1911,his grandfather JohnBartow walked over threehundred miles from McKinleyville, California, to Lincoln City. The Bartow family eventually settled in South Beach, Oregon, and homesteaded a plot of land near a slough along Idaho Point Road. John Bartow was ofWiyot tribal heritage, though formany years the Bartow family believed him to be Yurok, a neighboring tribe in northwest ? 2oo6 Oregon Historical Society Dobkins, Tears and Rain 445 JB|^B||^p Rick Bartow, Guardian, 2003,pastel, mixed media. 10"x 4"x 4" (Courtesy ofFroelick Gallery,Portland, OR) ern California. Such misidentifica tion is not uncommon in families with Indian heritage, because of the complex history of displacement and relocation of Native communi ties. John Bartow and his family developed bonds with the local Indian community at the Siletz Reservation, itselfmade up of di verse tribalgroups from western and southern Oregon and northwest ernCalifornia. Rick still nurtures those bonds. JohnBartow and his wife Jessiehad six chil dren, including Rick's father Richard, who married a non-Indian neighbor, Mabel Nel son. When Rick was just fiveyears old, his father Richard died, and Rich ard's twin Bob played an important role as mentor and surviving link to Rick's paternal lineage and Native heri tage. Rick's uncle was closely connected to the land, and shared with him observations of? and conversations with ? creatures in the slough and near the shorewhere theBartow family lived. Rick and his family (son Booker, daughter Lilly, and wife Karla Malcolm) stillcall that land home. Hawk, eagle, elk, and deer teem around thenearby Yaquina Bay mudflats, even as encroaching development displaces them, pushing them closer to the Bartow front door. 446 OHQ vol. 107, no. 3 Rick Bartow, Seeking the Medicine, 2005,wood, 25" X26" x 16" (Courtesy of FroelickGallery,Portland, OR) Inmany ways, Bartow's childhood and earlyyouth in Newport were much like that of any other small-town kid, particularly afterhis mother married Andrew Mekemson, who Bartow con siders a beloved second father. From an early age, he had been drawn to art, and that tendency was encouraged by his parents and paternal aunt. In high school, he began playing the guitar and bongos, discovering the music that remains an important part of his life as an accomplished blues musi cian. He made important connections with art instructors by going towhat isnow Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, to take aworkshop with JosephMagnani and winning an art competition that brought him to the attention ofHal Chambers. At the time, Chambers was chair of the art department atWestern Oregon State College (nowWestern Oregon Uni versity) in Monmouth, where Bartow eventually enrolled...