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Thursday, June 17, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Art: ‘They’ll be able to see themselves in this area’
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Annie Smith, BMCC’s
Native American liaison and
success coach, said the art
purchase represented a boost
to the college’s American
Indian students.
“They’ll be able to see
themselves in this area,” she
said.
Crow’s Shadow Market-
ing Director Nika Blasser said
the seeds of the idea grew out
of a 2019 exhibit at BMCC’s
Betty Feves Art Gallery. The
gallery reached out to Crow’s
Shadow after a planned
exhibit fell through and the
resulting collaboration led to
“This Good Land,” an exhibit
that spotlighted American
Indian artwork from the
nonprofit’s collection.
Lori Sams, the Feves
Art Gallery director, said
she solicited feedback from
students on the exhibit
and she received a strong
response, especially from the
college’s American Indian
students.
BMCC Grants Manager
Bonnie Day said more than
3% of BMCC’s students iden-
tify as American Indian or
Native American. That means
BMCC has the largest propor-
tion of indigenous students of
any community college in the
state.
With those facts in
mind, Day and a group of
BMCC staff began apply-
ing for grants to make the
college’s visual presentation
start reflecting some of the
students it serves, a process
that took more than a year to
complete.
The larger of the two
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Dena Summerfield checks the frame of Tyanna Van Pelt’s “My Life” on Monday, June 14, 2021, at Pendleton Art and Frame in
preparation for its display at Blue Mountain Community College.
grants — a $59,360 grant
from the Oregon Department
of Education — provided the
lion’s share of money to the
college to purchase prints
from Crow’s Shadow.
But the grant expanded
past artwork, including
money for a free Umatilla
language class for 25
students, educational materi-
als and a “day of learning” for
the BMCC Board of Educa-
tion on the Umatilla Indian
Reservation.
Blue Mountain is hustling
to use the grant funds, having
already selected the art, paid
for its framing and chosen
specific locations for each
piece of art.
Annie Smith, the college’s
Native American liaison and
success coach, said staff were
very intentional with where
they placed each print.
For instance, the college is
placing an untitled print from
James Lavadour and Lillian
Pitt at the Hermiston campus
because it’s evocative of the
Hermiston area’s natural
landscape, which was known
traditionally as K’ulk’ulíipa,
or “at the bowls,” because of
the area’s bedrock formations
and butte. For the college’s
veterans center, Smith and
and the college chose George
Flett’s “Prairie Chicken
Dancer Flashing His Power
Through His Mirror” because
Flett himself was a veteran
and the print depicts an indig-
enous warrior.
“I liked to select pieces
that were meaningful to that
place,” Smith said.
Blasser said Crow’s
Shadow artist-in-residency
program attracts American
Indian artists from all across
the country, but the work they
produce during their resi-
dency is often locally inspired
because of their surroundings
on the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation.
At the same time Blue
Mountain is changing out its
decor across its facilities, it’s
also targeting a much smaller
space.
Until recently, BMCC’s
Native American Club oper-
ated without a space of its
own, often gathering in
Smith’s office as an unoffi-
cial hub. The library recently
converted a room it used for
storage into an official meet-
ing space for the club, mean-
ing the room needed new
decorations.
The college is using a
smaller grant — $3,863 from
the Oregon Arts Commission
— to provide Crow’s Shadow
art for the repurposed room.
The artwork bought for the
club is more local, featuring
young CTUIR artists who
made the prints through Nixy-
aawii Community School’s
printmaking program. While
Crow’s Shadow took a cut
of the money spent on the
professional artwork, 100% of
the proceeds from the student
artwork went to the artists.
Megan Van Pelt, the Asso-
ciated Student Body president
and a member of the Native
American Club, was involved
throughout the process of
selecting and placing the
artwork.
Van Pelt said she found
it “appalling” that many
students, even those who
attend the Pendleton campus,
know little about the CTUIR
and hopes the art will increase
awareness about the tribes.
It’s a bittersweet moment
for Van Pelt. Although she
played an integral role in
securing a space for the
Native American Club and
the artwork project, these
projects are being completed
as she’s set to transfer to the
University of Oregon after
obtaining her associate’s
degree from Blue Mountain.
Van Pelt said she’ll help
finish the projects over the
summer before moving to
Eugene in the fall.
COVID-19: Umatilla County remains high risk
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Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Lifeways, with its office at 331 S.E. Second St., Pendleton,
was Umatilla County’s mental health services provider for 16
years. The nonprofit recently protested the county’s move to
select Community Counseling Solutions to provide mental
health and addiction treatment. The Umatilla County Board
of Commissioners on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, rejected that
protest and stayed with Community Counseling Solutions.
County:
Continued from Page A1
concerns about the service
being provided to Umatilla
County residents,” Murdock
said. “The only objections I
have heard have come from
Lifeways employees and
their corporate office. On the
other hand, we have received
numerous messages of enthu-
siasm from throughout the
county.”
Murdock also apologized
to the committee members
for an article in the East
Oregonian, which he said
was “primarily guided by a
less-than-professional press
release from the Lifeways
head office,” referring to a
June 11 statement from Life-
ways CEO Tim Hoekstra.
The press release called CCS
“underqualified and under-
prepared” and the county’s
decision “a gamble” to resi-
dents’ health.
Murdock added the
county already received
more communication from
Community Counseling
Solutions “than we have
received from Lifeways in
the last year or more.” He
said he was confident that
county residents in need will
receive “skilled and expe-
dient service, as will the
agencies that depend on the
provider for support.”
In an email to the East
Oregonian, Kimberly Lind-
say, the executive director
for CCS, said the organi-
zation “acknowledges this
has been a difficult process
for all involved.” She also
stated, “We are both humbled
and honored by the county’s
decision, and we are excited
to deliver upon our mission of
providing dynamic, progres-
sive and diverse support to
the residents of Umatilla
County.”
Lifeways officials did
not immediately respond to
emails requesting comment
prior to press time.
The county recently put
out a request for proposal for
a single provider to handle
mental health and addiction
services, after years where
those services were divided
between Lifeways, which
handled mental health, and
the county’s own substance
abuse services provider.
An independent consultant
recommended the county
conjoin those services, noting
patients often fall under both
categories at once.
Hoekstra in the June 11
statement said Lifeways,
which has served Umatilla
County for more than 16
years, plans to stay in the
county and “is already under-
way in pivoting its services
to retain staff.” Officials have
yet to provide specifics of
what that might look like.
Lifeways has 11 facilities
in Umatilla County and more
than 120 employees, most of
whom are county residents,
officials have said. In all,
Lifeways reported it serves
184 clients with schizo-
phrenic disorders, 491 clients
with major depression, 471
clients with post-traumatic
stress disorder, 215 clients
with bipolar disorder and
more than 2,000 clients with
adjustment disorders.
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a decent uptick, Fiumara
said there’s likely much more
to come. He estimated the
county could see between
a 5% to 10% increase in
its overall vaccine rate, but
even that isn’t likely to raise
the county’s vaccine rate
past 65%, the benchmark
the state set for counties to
move to lower risk.
“We still have some
gaps,” he said. “Again, these
are not gaps that magically
get us to 70%. But these
are gaps that — it wouldn’t
surprise me if we’re talking
5 to 10%.”
Fiumara said it’s most
likely the county will see
restrictions lifted when
Oregon reaches the 70%
vaccine threshold the state
set for reopening its econ-
omy. State health officials
have projected meeting the
benchmark by the end of
June.
Cases on the decline
The new data comes
as COVID-19 case counts
continue a gradual decline in
the county, following state-
wide trends. State health
officials reported declin-
ing cases for six consecu-
tive weeks until the week
ending Sunday, June 13,
which saw a 3% increase
in cases, according to state
health data.
Fiumara said the county’s
decline does not mimic the
state’s, but the data shows
similar, promising signs
that the pandemic is subsid-
ing. The county has reported
declining cases for five
consecutive weeks, accord-
ing to county health data.
“We are declining,”
Fiumara said. “We peaked
a couple of weeks ago, it
seems. And it has been
going down since then. So
Candidate:
Continued from Page A1
picture of an institution
that was struggling to stay
relevant with the people it’s
supposed to serve.
He recalled a conversa-
tion he had with a young
Board man Recreation
Center employee, who told
him she was much more
excited about the course
offerings at Columbia
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian, File
Cpl. John Shown with the Oregon National Guard administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Mary
Freeman during a COVID-19 vaccination run by Yellowhawk Tribal Health Care Center at
Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Mission on Feb. 23, 2021. New data shows the Pendleton
ZIP code area has the largest uptick in COVID-19 vaccinations in the state during the past
week, largely from vaccination clinics at Yellowhawk.
I think we’re following the
same trend.”
With low vaccination
rates overall, “the curious
thing will be to see if we
fall as far” as the state’s
case rates, Fiumara said.
He added it’s possible the
county will continue to see
case spikes in the coming
months due to low vaccina-
tion rates.
“I think we are likely
going to see some flareups,”
he said. “They’ll hopefully
be nowhere as large as what
we’ve seen in the past.”
Fiumara said he expects
to see cases rise in response
to the upcoming Fourth of
July holiday.
“We are assuming there’s
going to be some events
going on,” he said. “There’s
going to be vendors and
there’s going to be people
very happy to be out and
about and not being required
to have any restrictions. It
is entirely possible that we
end up with some spikes in
cases out of that. It’s just the
nature of people being out
and about and not everyone
being vaccinated.”
Fiumara added he hopes
any case spikes will be
hindered by enough resi-
dents being vaccinated. He
estimated that over the past
few weeks, county vaccina-
tions have fallen from 1,200
per week to around 800 per
week.
More than 5,700 county
residents have been vacci-
nated since the begin-
ning of May, according to
county data.
“More folks are being
vaccinated,” he said. “It’s
not the size we’d like. But as
more folks continue to get
vaccinated, we’ll keep these
flareups” under control.
In Gov. Kate Brown’s
most recent assessment,
Umatilla County remained
at high risk, with stringent
restrictions on indoor gath-
erings and commerce, while
Union, Morrow, Baker and
Wallowa counties have all
fallen to lower risk.
In all, 25,435 doses have
been delivered in the county,
according to an Oregonian/
OregonLive database. That’s
roughly 31% of the coun-
ty’s total population, the
third lowest percentage in
Oregon.
Basin College in Pasco than
BMCC. A family he talked
to in Milton-Freewater
admitted to knowing noth-
ing about Blue Mountain but
lit up at the mention of Walla
Walla Community College.
Following an extended
period of declining enroll-
ment across BMCC, Lewis
said he would prioritize
growing the student body if
selected as the college’s next
president.
Blue Mountain has many
strengths, he added, but it
lacked an understanding of
the communities it was serv-
ing, especially its communi-
ties of color.
“( We) a ssu me t he
students will find us,” he
said. “They’ve flipped the
script on you. They want
to know if you understand
them, and if they matter.”
With the final round of
interviews completed, the
task of picking the next
president falls on the board
of education. Besides Lewis,
the board also is consider-
ing Mark Browning, the
vice president of college
relations at Western Idaho
College, Western Nebraska
Community College Pres-
ident Carmen Simone and
Christopher Villa, the
former president of Portland
Community College’s Rock
Creek campus.
The board will meet
behind closed doors twice
on June 16 to discuss the
candidates. The board
expects to make a formal
decision in July.