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Wednesday, April 25, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Navajo painter to visit Sisters
PHOTO BY STEVE TAGUE
FAN Advocate Dawn Cooper of Sisters spoke at the annual FAN luncheon
fundraiser.
FAN raises $111,000
to help families
The Family Access
Network (FAN) Foundation
held their 12th annual lun-
cheon fundraiser in Bend
on April 13 at Pilot Butte
Middle School.The event,
which had over 250 guests,
raised $111,446 for FAN
through sponsorships, indi-
vidual donations and a donor
match.
The donor match was a
part of FAN’s luncheon this
year in an effort to inspire
more guests to become
monthly donors, also known
as FAN Club members. As a
result, the number of monthly
donors to FAN doubled.
The luncheon title spon-
sor, Hoodoo Recreation, and
other event sponsors were
also key to helping FAN
reach their fundraising goal.
These funds will provide
crucial FAN services for
underprivileged children and
family members who live in
Deschutes and Crook coun-
ties. FAN advocates work
directly in the schools to con-
nect children and their fami-
lies to essential basic needs.
“FAN provides a broad
set of services, delivered to
families right in the schools,”
said Valerie Yost, FAN
Foundation Board Chair.
“One of the aspects that
makes our luncheon so pow-
erful is the opportunity for
donors to be in a school set-
ting, an experiential rep-
resentation of FAN’s mis-
sion: to improve lives by
ensuring that local children
have access to basic-need
services. On behalf of the
FAN luncheon committee,
we’d like to thank all of the
amazing donors, sponsors
and event table captains
for their incredible sup-
port of local children and
families.”
FAN launched in January
1993 and currently employs
25 advocates in 52 public
schools (K-12) and early
childhood sites in Deschutes
and Crook counties.
For more information
about the Family Access
N e t w o r k , v i s i t w w w.
familyaccessnetwork.org or
call 541-693-5675.
Sisters FAN office is
located in the Sisters School
District Administration build-
ing. Call 541-549-0155.
Smile,
Sisters!
We’re
committed
to your dental
health!
Exceptional Health,
Prevention & Aesthetics
For Your Family!
Trevor Frideres d.m.d.
Ben Crockett, d.d.s.
p 541-549-9486 f 541-549-9110
410 E. Cascade Ave. • P.O. Box 1027 • Sisters
Hours: Mon., 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tues.-Wed., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.;
Thurs., 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
Jason Parrish grew up in
rural western New Mexico,
the oldest son in a ranching
family, and learned to ride a
horse before entering school.
Thirty years later, Jason still
rides, but he spends more
time including these steeds in
his award-winning paintings
than he does in the saddle.
Parrish will be in Sisters
for the Fourth Friday Art
Stroll weekend starting
Friday, April 27. His works
will be on display at Raven
Makes Gallery, the only gal-
lery in the United States offer-
ing his works.
Reading, another lifelong
passion for Parrish, com-
menced with the encyclope-
dia set of his grandmother,
which first exposed him to
the world beyond his own. It
was in these great books of
knowledge that the young boy
first saw the Italian Medieval
Period paintings that would
become influences of his own
works. Books and curiosity
led Jason to a solid public-
education foundation, cul-
minating in a B.S. from the
University of New Mexico
10 years ago. A passage he
recently wrote about his life
captures both of these lifelong
endeavors:
“I learned to ride horses
before I could read about
them. My family owned
American Quarter Horses as
they are best suited to ranch
life. ‘Cow ponies’ as they
are sometimes referred to
are excellent work partners
in gathering and chasing
down unruly stock. They’re
generally short and stocky in
size compared to the elegance
of a long limbed, slender
thoroughbred horse. Their
temperament is suited to chil-
dren and novices. At age 25, I
bought my first thoroughbred
horse and brought him home
to the excitement of everyone.
He was big, beautiful, and
moved like a ballet dancer. It
was then that I discovered that
horses are not always even-
tempered, easy going, gentle
partners.
“This horse was a bully.
It took months for us to get
along. He bumped me while
in lead and while grooming.
He bit the farrier. And it was
aboard this horse I found out
what sitting on a runaway
horse felt like.
“The power of this ani-
mal is something to marvel.
I felt helpless and fear. A fear
that one wrong move on my
part would make him jump
while at full speed, causing
me to be flung into the air
and slammed to the ground,
or him tripping and rolling on
me. In this wild, uncontrolled
circumstance, I learned that,
like a Quarter Horse, this was
what he was suited to—run-
ning. He was not purposely
being bad. Rather, I was back
in class, becoming aware of
a creature’s habit, learning to
ride horses in a different way.
“We still have him and
he’s my best friend now.
After putting in lots and lots
of work, Bay became accus-
tomed to his environment and
is a well-mannered horse that
loves frosted oatmeal cookies
and red Gatorade. But only as
treats!”
The American Southwest’s
sweeping, high-elevation ter-
rain annually cycles through
with sun-baked summers,
the dust storms of autumn or
spring, and deeply cold winter
nights. The People that Jason
was born into arrived at their
lands a millennium ago, speak
a language that is understood
from Interior Alaska to the
desert Southwest, and hold
numerous ceremonies and
chants that include nine-day
Beauty Way Ceremonies dur-
ing wintertime, which are
conducted primarily at night.
Jason’s family lives beside the
southern end of the Chuska
Mountains, located near the
New Mexico-Arizona state
line. They instilled in their kin
the understanding that success
follows a sustained and dedi-
cated commitment to hard
work, a particularly important
trait in the lifeway of the Dine
people.
Parrish’s painting career
began just eight years ago
as a meditative exercise. In
February of 2018, his works
depicting the Dine in their
finest moments of tradi-
tional attire were part of a
renowned, juried art show
at the Grand Palais, on the
Champs Elysees in Paris.
Jason, being a speaker of
French, Navajo, and English,
had no issues understanding
the application form.
The location of the water-
color and drawing exhibition
See PARRISH on page 32
6TH ANNUAL
“Friond and
Fund” Raisor
Lunchoon
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2
12-1 PM
AT THE BELFRY
302 E. MAIN AVE.
circlooff riondsorogon.org
To rosorvo a spaco, call 541-588-6445
Transforming
Lives…One Child
at a Time!
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— Supporting Business Partner —
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