Artist Talk: Avantika Bawa @ Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts

Artist-in-Residence:  AVANTIKA BAWA

Artist Talk Friday, June 22, 5:00 - 7:00 pm 

(NOTE: this event was originally scheduled for Thursday, June 21st, but has been rescheduled to the 22nd). 

PENDLETON — Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts (CSIA) is welcoming Avantika Bawa to the studio for two weeks in June. Bawa is the first of three 2018 Golden Spot Residency Award winners at Crow’s Shadow this year. This Artist-in-Residence award allows Oregon-based contemporary artists invited to the studio to work in a new medium; it is generously supported by The Ford Family Foundation. Bawa will work at Crow’s Shadow developing limited-edition prints, which will be hand pulled by Crow’s Shadow’s collaborative Master Printer, Judith Baumann. Most artists-in-residence at CSIA create two images for editioning, which is typically completed in the following months. Crow’s Shadow Press specializes in fine art lithography, a labor-intensive printmaking process where each color is created with a different lithography plate, and represents an additional run through a traditional manual press. Depending on the complexity of the image and the number of colors, an edition can take months to complete. Upon completion, the prints will be available for sale and one copy of each edition will enter CSIA’s permanent collection, which is frequently lent to various cultural and learning institutions around the region and nationally. At the end of Bawa’s artist residency the public is invited to Crow’s Shadow for an artist talk and studio visit, which will occur from 5:00-7:00pm on Thursday, June 21st. 

Avantika Bawa splits her time between her hometown of New Delhi, India, and her current home of Portland, Oregon. Bawa’s art practice incorporates drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation, often with strong architectural elements. Her drawings are often characterized by minimalist forms and subtle interactions between the work and installation space. Bawa has a BFA in painting from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, and an MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Bawa is one of the co-founders of Drain a journal that explores contemporary art primarily through imagery, interviews, and creative writing. She is represented by Gallery Maskara in Mumbai, and Saltworks Gallery in Atlanta, and has attended multiple residencies including the McDowell Colony, Djerassi, Kochi Biennial Foundation, and Skowhegan among others. Bawa is a fellowship recipient for the Oregon Arts Commission. In addition to her active art practice she is also a curator and an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Washington State University at the Vancouver, WA campus.

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Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts is located on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in the foothills of Oregon’s Blue Mountains. Crow’s Shadow is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization formed in 1992 by local artists James Lavadour (Walla Walla) and Phillip Cash Cash (Cayuse and Nez Perce). Our mission is to provide a creative conduit for educational, social, and economic opportunities for Native Americans through artistic development. Over the last 26 years Crow’s Shadow has evolved into a world-class studio focused on contemporary fine art printmaking.