Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal exhibition brochure

Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal AUGUST 26–NOVEMBER 12, 2022 A BIG IDEA PROJECT

THE MUSEUM 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum, Idaho Tue–Fri, 10am–5pm Sat, 11am–4pm

COVER: Carolina Caycedo, still from Reciprocal ­Sacrifice, 2022, courtesy the artist INTRODUCTION PANELS: Rachel Teannalach, Monumental 3 (Little Goose), 2022, oil and wax on canvas, courtesy the artist

HAILEY CLASSROOM 314 Second Ave South, Hailey, Idaho Scheduled Class Times SUN VALLEY MUSEUM OF ART P.O. Box 656, Sun Valley, ID 83353 208.726.9491 • svmoa.org

James Prosek, Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 2021, graphite, watercolor and gouache on paper, courtesy the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York BACK PANEL: Eirik Johnson, Below the Glines Canyon Dam on the Upper Elwha River, W ­ ashington, 2008, and Glines Canyon, ­Upper Elwha River, ­Washington, 2018, archival p ­ igment prints, courtesy the artist and G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle

INTERIOR, TOP TO BOTTOM, CLOCKWISE: James Prosek, Sun Valley, Idaho No. 1 (design for mural), 2022, courtesy the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York Eirik Johnson, Following the Elwha, 2022, archival ­pigment print, courtesy the artist and G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle Rachel Teannalach, Monumental 1 (Ice ­Harbor), 2022, oil and wax on canvas, courtesy the artist Carolina Caycedo, Salute of the Fish (detail), 2022, hand-dyed artisanal fishing net, steel, embroidery, courtesy the artist and Instituto de Vision, photo by Ruben Diaz

oinciding with renewed dialogue

ecosystems and economies. At this historic

about the possibility of breaching

moment, the project considers the history of

dams throughout the Columbia

damming in the Pacific Northwest, the effects

River Basin, this BIG IDEA project offers a con-

of dams on the region, and a reimagined future

versation about the impact of dams on Idaho

for rivers and the life dependent on them in

and the American West. For more than a

the American West.

century, dams have shaped Idaho’s landscapes,

Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal

PANEL DISCUSSION: THE FUTURE OF ­RIVERS AND DAMS IN IDAHO

MUSEUM EXHIBITION

ARTIST TALKS

Wed, Sep 28, 6pm Sun Valley Community School Auditorium FREE, pre-registration recommended In looking at the four Lower Snake River dams and their financial and environmental impacts, as well as their sustainability, many voices are coming together to advocate for removing these dams. SVMoA has invited panelists to speak to the issue from a variety of perspectives: guest artist Carolina Caycedo; Nic Nelson, Executive Director of Idaho Rivers United; Craig Quarterman, U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson’s Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and a representative from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.

SVMoA has commissioned four artists to consider ­local and regional dams through new bodies of work.

Since 2013, Carolina Caycedo has pursued Be Dammed, an exploration in multiple media of the ­impact of dams on Indigenous and traditional peoples in the Americas. In July 2021, Caycedo traveled through Idaho visiting dams and speaking with members of the Shoshone-Bannock and Nez Perce Tribes.

She researched their traditional fishing practices and interviewed biologists and others, all in preparation for the creation of an installation featuring a new film, Reciprocal Sacrifice, and sculpture, Salute of the Fish.

Photographer Eirik Johnson has often ­explored the places where human activity and wilderness intersect, including the Elwha River where the Glines Canyon Dam and Elwha Dam have both been removed. The exhibition includes a photograph of the Elwha Dam and a diptych Johnson made at the site of the Glines Canyon Dam before and after removal. For this exhibition, Johnson has made a commissioned series of photographs “along the banks of the roiling wild Elwha,” exploring the transformation the river and landscape have undergone in the eight years since dam removal.

Artist, writer and naturalist James Prosek is interested in intersections and interdependence within ecosystems. He often investigates the effects of boundaries both real (dams) and imaginary (map lines) on wildlife migration and relationships between species. Following a site visit last summer, Prosek has made a large-scale mural, watercolor paintings and sculptures that will help visitors better understand the effects of dams on Idaho’s salmon and other fauna and flora.

In collaboration with Advocates for the West, painter Rachel Teannalach recently pursued a painted study of the Salmon, Snake and Columbia Rivers, from the headwaters of the Salmon to the mouth of the Columbia. For this exhibition, she has made four paintings of the dams along the lower Snake that were recently proposed for breaching, juxtaposing their monumentality with the waterways they intersect.

JOCK REYNOLDS IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST JAMES PROSEK

CLASSES

AUGUST 26–NOVEMBER 12, 2022 A BIG IDEA PROJECT

EXHIBITION OPENING CELEBRATION Fri, Aug 26, 5–7pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE Participating artists will speak at 6pm

GALLERY WALK Fri, Sep 2, 5–7pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE

EVENING EXHIBITION TOURS Thu, Sep 8, 4:30pm, and Thu, Nov 3, 4:30 & 5:30pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE, pre-registration recommended *Artist Rachel Teannalach will join the Nov 3 tours to discuss her new paintings.

Mon, Aug 29, 6pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE, pre-registration required Join artist, curator and scholar Jock Reynolds, the Henry Heinz II Director of the Yale University Art Gallery from 1998 to 2018, for a conversation with internationally known artist James Prosek.

CRAFT SERIES WORKSHOP: FANCIFUL FELTED FISH WITH BETTY HAYZLETT Sat, Aug 27, 9:30am–1pm Hailey Classroom, Hailey $45 / $55 nonmember 15 years and older, beginners welcome

CAROLINA CAYCEDO: BE DAMMED Thu, Sep 29, 5:30pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE, pre-registration recommended Join internationally acclaimed artist Carolina Caycedo for a conversation on Be Dammed, her ongoing ­project investigating the impacts of dams on indigenous communities throughout the Americas.

LECTURES & PANEL DISCUSSION AUTHOR DAVID JAMES DUNCAN ON DAMS Wed, Aug 31, 6pm Forest Service Park, Ketchum $15 member / $25 nonmember / $7 student David James Duncan is the author of the novels The River Why and The Brothers K, the story collection River Teeth, the nonfiction collections My Story as Told by Water and God Laughs & Plays, and two fast response activist books, Citizen’s Dissent (with Wendell Berry) and The Heart of the Monster (with Rick Bass). His work has won numerous awards including a National Book Award nomination. Duncan has spoken on imaginative and spiritual freedom, the crucifixion of the living earth, and the assassination of American democracy by the Supreme Court’s creation of a bogus “Corporate Person.”

THE ATLAS OF DROWNED TOWNS WITH BOB REINHARDT Thu, Sep 8, 5:30pm The Museum, Ketchum FREE, pre-registration recommended Professor of history at Boise State University, Bob Reinhardt has created The Atlas of Drowned Towns, a public history project that explores the histories of the dozens of communities in the American West inundated by dam construction in the 20th century.

Underneath the reservoirs of these dams lie the remnants of homelands, towns, villages, and other homes that were displaced or eliminated to make way for 20th-century ideas of progress. Recovering the submerged pasts of lost communities will reveal the historical significance of marginalized places in the American West and provide lessons for the future of river development and community displacement.

TEEN WORKSHOP: FISHY FELTING FUN WITH BETTY HAYZLETT (for students in grades 6–12) Sun, Aug 28, 10am–1pm Hailey Classroom, Hailey $10, pre-registration required In these workshops, one for adults/young adults and one for teens, participants will make three-dimensional fanciful and colorful fish. These fiber artworks are fun to create and make great home décor! ­Participants will use a wet-felting process, which involves placing layers of colored wool over a pattern and then using hot, soapy water and hand rubbing to create the fish.

2022 Craft Series Workshops are generously supported by Heather Horton Teen workshops are generously supported by Joyce B. Friedman

ADULT CLASS: GEOLOGY OUTING— FIELD TRIP TO THE HEADWATERS OF THE SALMON RIVER AND THE SUNBEAM DAM WITH PAUL LINK Sat, Sep 17, 9am–6pm Meet at Sun Peak and drive to Sunbeam Dam and Yankee Fork of the Snake River $70 / $80 nonmember Participants will carpool over Galena Summit into the Sawtooth Valley and Salmon River Canyon. In addition to learning about the regional geology, mineral d ­ eposits, glacial features and the Cape Horn ­earthquake, the group will visit the sabotaged ­Sunbeam Dam and the Yankee Fork of the Snake.

Bring lunch, sturdy shoes, jacket and sun hat.

Paul Link, recently retired, began teaching ­geology at Idaho State University in 1980. He and graduate students worked extensively in the Sun ­Valley area as part of a USGS project from 1985 to 1993. Paul is a co-author of the 2012 Idaho Geologic Map and 2021 Roadside Geology of Idaho.

Sun Valley Museum of Art acknowledges the Shoshone and Bannock peoples and their homelands here in the Wood River Valley, as well as their use of these lands in the past, present and future.

FILMS RIVER OF RETURN WITH JESSICA AND SAMMY MATSAW Thu, Oct 13, 6pm The Community Library, Ketchum FREE Jessica and Sammy Matsaw will present their short documentary film, River of Return, and discuss their ongoing work with Shoshone-Bannock youth on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. Through guided river trips, the Matsaws have created a corridor of connection for their tribal youth and people through their project, River Newe. Throughout the film, the community forages, fishes, and navigates the landscape together. They dig into their personal histories and language while telling a broader story of Indigenous power and resilience.

DAMNATION Thu, Nov 3, 4:30 & 7pm Magic Lantern Cinemas, Ketchum $10 member / $12 nonmember Produced by Patagonia, this powerful film explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the ­growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, and also through a metamorphosis in values.

This project was made possible through generous support from The Robert Lehman Foundation, Jane P. Watkins, and Jeri L. Wolfson and Wolfson Family Foundations.