OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
A7
Museum: ‘I just loved to collect fl int’ Schools: ‘We did
intervene during
the shutdown’
Continued from Page A1
to do Chief Joseph as the
person he was. He did not
like killing people. He was
a peaceful Indian chief. He
was a friend to all the other
chiefs and also was a very
good friend of Gen. (Oliver
Otis) Howard, even during
the battle.”
Howard was the U.S.
Army general who led the
troops chasing the Nez Perce
during their fl ight toward
Canada during the Nez Perce
War of 1877.
David Manuel went
on to explain the action in
the piece, showing Joseph
counting coup on a downed
Crow warrior.
“I wanted to depict Chief
Joseph as an Indian who
was not out to kill another
Indian. That’s why he has a
coup stick,” he said. “A coup
stick was a decorated staff
that when an Indian catches
an enemy with it, the enemy
automatically gives up. The
Indian with the coup stick
can add another feather to
his warbonnet. What he’s
doing here is getting ready to
touch a Crow Indian who’s
fallen off his horse.”
The Crow is depicted
as a mighty warrior with a
resplendent warbonnet made
of prized wing feathers —
such is the detail Manuel is
able to achieve. By counting
coup on the Crow, Joseph
will have the right to take
the Crow’s warbonnet. The
Crow will lose his status as a
warrior and be a disgrace to
his people.
“Joseph knows this,”
Manuel said. “He’s going
to take this warbonnet home
as a trophy. That’s how the
Nez Perce started wearing
warbonnets.”
Joseph also knows that
the Crow, who’s life has
been spared, can retrieve his
warbonnet in a friendly trade
and the Crow can regain his
honor among his tribe, Man-
uel said.
Manuel
thoroughly
researches the people and
animals depicted in his
works, right down to the
style of saddles and the dec-
orations on a turtle shell
depicted in one piece.
The self-taught artist also
described another piece he’s
working on called “Gen-
tle and Furious,” showing
a cougar threatening a colt
with the mare kicking at the
cat. It’s typical of Manuel’s
pieces in the action it shows.
“I like to do action,” he
said. “The only art schooling
I got was from a high school
art teacher … he told me I
could do action well.”
Manuel attributed that
ability to his love of Charlie
Russell’s bronzes and paint-
ings of the Old West.
“I always wanted to do
as good as Charlie Russell,”
Manuel said.
He said his high school
teacher tried to discourage
him from trying to make a
living as an artist, saying,
“You’ll never have a steak
on your plate,” since too
many people were trying to
be artists.
Then he started winning
numerous awards at national
art shows.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
David Manuel tells of the “arrowhead fever” that got him
started collecting historic artifacts as a child. The arrowheads
are part of the displays at Manuel History Bronze museum in
Enterprise, where a preview was held Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
This bronze sculpture of Nez Perce Chief Joseph done by
David Manuel is one of many on display at the Manuel History
Bronze museum in Enterprise. A preview of the museum was
held Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020.
“He came up to me and
said, ‘Dave, if it wasn’t for
me, you wouldn’t be where
you are right now.’ He did
give me good advice when
he said to do action,” Man-
uel said.
He also plans another
locally themed piece in a
painting he’s just started
work on. It’ll be called
“Returning Spirit,” depict-
ing Chief Joseph returning to
his beloved Wallowa Valley
from where he was forced to
move.
“It takes me forever to do
a painting, but we’re going
to make prints of it,” David
Manuel said.
Lee Manuel said they
expect to have prints avail-
able when they hold a grand
opening next year.
“That is the piece we’re
going to be opening with in
2021,” Lee Manuel said.
In addition to David Man-
uel’s bronzes and paintings,
the museum contains paint-
ings and bronze works by
others — including foundry
Conatact Elaine at 541-263-1189
owner Timothy Parks.
But most of the museum
holds historic artifacts. As
David Manuel directed, a
visitor can start where arti-
facts of mountain men begin,
progress to the Oregon Trail
and early Western settlers,
and fi nd massive amounts
of Indian artifacts, including
clothing from a Nez Perce
display and from Yellow
Wolf’s family. Yellow Wolf
was a warrior with Chief
Joseph during the Nez Perce
War who later provided his-
torians with the tribe’s per-
spective on the war.
He said he’s done his best
to maintain a high standard
of ethics when obtaining
artifacts. Of the Yellow Wolf
collection, he said, he pur-
chased the items and made
sure Yellow Wolf’s descen-
dants were able to share in
the proceeds.
The Manuels also have a
massive collection of arrow-
heads, which were what got
David Manuel started as a
child.
“I just loved to collect
fl int,” the 80-year-old said.
“I’d take a coffee can full
of fl int and throw it out on
the fl oor and fi nd a broken
arrowhead. That gave me the
fever. I call it ‘arrow fever.’
When you fi nd one, then you
want to fi nd two and so on.
You just want to fi nd more.”
He also makes sure he
doesn’t take arrowheads
illicitly.
“I’ve turned a lot of
arrowheads down if it
appears they may have come
from near a burial ground,”
he said.
The museum also con-
tains massive collections
of military memorabilia,
including uniforms, fl ags,
photographs, fi rearms, other
weaponry, accoutrements —
even still-sealed rations from
all of America’s wars since
the Civil War.
Lee Manuel thanked the
nearly 70 people invited who
came to the Oct. 13 preview.
“Everybody’s been just
so amazing,” she said. “We
hope you’ll continue to be
business partners with us.”
Continued from Page A1
the kids, you know the fam-
ilies and you have a relation-
ship with them.”
The teacher retention rate
— it was 86% and 72% for
Wallowa Elementary and
Wallowa High, respectively
— also play an important
role, Jones said.
“Getting staff to stay,
administrators to stay, for a
long time is important,” she
said. “If we’re looking for
how do we improve our cul-
ture to ensure all students
are learning at high levels,
the more we’re together and
we can learn and grow as a
staff, the better the kids will
do.”
Joseph’s graduation rate
not only was perfect, but
JCS reported a high teach-
er-retention rate of 95%.
Enterprise was at the
same level when it came
to keeping teachers, with
EHS having a retention rate
of 95% and the elementary
school a touch higher at
96%.
Enterprise School Dis-
trict Superintendent Erika
Pinkerton was pleased with
overall performance the
report showed.
“We were at 90%, (and)
we continue to maintain
that, which is exceptional,”
she said.
Pinkerton explained that
while the overall rate did
drop, in a smaller school
district a single student can
sway the results.
“When you’re working
with such a small cohort,
one student will alter your
outcome, and in that case,
(the) 7% (difference) was
one student,” she said.
Pinkerton noted that
due to the COVID-19 shut-
downs in March, there were
no statewide assessments
that typically would have
been included in the data.
She also commended the
staff for how it performed in
spite of the shutdown.
“Our high school teach-
ers did an excellent job at
reaching out to students who
were not on track,” she said.
“We did intervene during
the shutdown.”
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Enterprise, OR 97828
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