News Page Updated: Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:05 AM PST

Exhibit spotlights Oregon’s native American prisoners

Contributed Photo

Deer Ridge. Snake River. Powder River. Two Rivers. Columbia River. Coffee Creek. Shutter Creek.

If you’re lucky enough not to have had a brush with Oregon’s prison system, you might not know that these are all the names of prisons  around the state. There are currently three million men and women incarcerated in the United States, more than in any other prison system in the world. Many of these are Native Americans, unfortunately — more than twice as many as their percentage in the overall population.

Because of the sad history of these people, which is only now beginning to be addressed in a compassionate way, it isn’t uncommon to have three generations of Native Americans from one family all in the prisons of Oregon. And not just men;  between l977 and 2004, the rate at which we incarcerate women  increased by 700 percent. These people are warehoused. In Oregon almost nothing is done to rehabilitate them. We lock the door and throw away the keys. And when they do get out, if they do, they can’t find jobs and they can’t find places to live. Thirty percent of them go back in again.

In Oregon there is now an organization that is trying to do something  about it, at least for the Native Americans in the system. It is called Red Lodge Transition Services, and they have come up with a way to make these invisible people visible — through their art.

“Native American Art Empowers ‘Invisible People’” That’s the name of  the exhibit now traveling around the state, and it’s coming to Bandon in December.

Save the date of Sunday, Dec. 7, for an afternoon of drumming, dancing, storytelling and art by Native Americans at the Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center from 1 to 3 p.m. My old friends Barry and Bonnie Joyce, who have been conducting sweat lodge ceremonies out at their place on Lampa Mountain Road for more than 25 years, are bringing us an extraordinary show. It features works by more than 50 Native American artists incarcerated in the 14 facilities of Oregon’s prison systems. They have all donated their art, which has been handsomely framed by framers, to raise money for Red Lodge Transition Services, a nonprofit organization that helps inmates transition to successful life back in our communities.

There is some amazing artwork here. I went up to Eugene on Nov. 8 to see the show and was impressed with what these men and women have been able to create with the simplest materials: colored pencils, regular pencils, small sheets of paper, ball point pens.

I also got to meet Trish Jordan, director of the program, a lady with a twinkle in her eye and a quiet manner who has come from Idaho and in the last two years has managed to travel all around the state, mobilizing rehabilitation programs, these art shows and other programs to make us aware of these forgotten people. Her goal is to raise money to buy a transition house in the Portland area for Native American women who are let out of prison.

Through sales of original art, prints, and cards, they’ve raised $7,200. At the show in Bandon, calendars featuring 12 of the exhibit’s finest works will be available. There also will be works by Native American artists not in the prison system, including Kaila Farrell-Smith, a professional artist in Portland and daughter of a Klamath Indian Tribe elder.

It will be a beautiful show, and Sunday, Dec. 7, will be a memorable event. Barry tells me he is bringing “the big drum” and a whole contingent of Native American drummers. Who knows, maybe we’ll even cook up some fry bread!

Hope to see you on Dec. 7. And if you haven’t yet made it over to the A.W.E. show, which is up through Nov. 30, well what can I tell you? It is truly awesome!

— Victoria Tierney is a local artist involved with theater and the arts in Bandon.