Sung to the tune of the Sesame Street song…
Who are the people in Your
Neighborhood?
Whose Getting Rich from
COVID – 19 in Your Neighborhood?
Jordan Cove and Pacific
Connector Gas Pipeline.
Plus:
A small exhibition by Rick
Bartow, Mad River Band of the Wiyot Indians printmaker.
Over 140,000 people have
now died from COVID - 19. Our government is making it more difficult to see the
numbers and making little effort to personalize the pandemic but we all know each
number is/was a person. Athraigh Studio continues its effort to look into the
numbers and into the art made by the people.
In the U.S. people of
color are at greater risk than others. Among the most vulnerable are Native
Americans. Today, in the third exhibit
detailing Who are the people COVID – 19 is Killing in Your Neighborhood?,
Athraigh Studio brings you examples of the art created by the indigenous people
of Northern California and Southern Oregon, specifically the prints made by Rick
Bartow, who “…was a member of the Mad River Band of the Wiyot Indians and had
close ties to the nearby Siletz Reservation…”
The indigenous people of Northern
California and Southern Oregon have been in a battle to survive the pandemic
and to save the earth and their people from the greed of big oil companies,
specifically the Jordan Cove LNG Project.
Jordan Cove liquified
natural gas ("LNG") terminal and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline
(together known as "Jordan Cove" or "the Project". Pembina
is the parent company of the Jordan Cove Project (originally owned by Veresen),
a Canadian Company.
Some important facts and a
bit of history:
“…pipeline will run
through 400 streams and waterways including underneath the Klamath River, Rogue
River, and Coos Bay…”
“…twice the size of the
DAPL(Dakota Access Pipeline)…”
“…80 miles of old
growth forest will have to be clear cut for the pipeline…”
“…Pipeline would run
through traditional tribal lands and burial sites of the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk,
Modoc and Klamath Tribes of Northern California and Southern Oregon…”
For the past “…15 years, Jordan Cove LNG has failed to
qualify for any of the necessary state permits to dredge Coos Bay for an LNG
export terminal and to trench across Oregon for a 230-mile fracked gas
pipeline, threatening harm to Tribal resources, private landowners, drinking
water, and fisheries along the way…”
“…The Jordan Cove
Project was denied by the federal government twice in 2016…”
March 2020 under the cover
of COVID.
The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved
the controversial Jordan Cove project. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon,
opposed the decision:
“A few days ago, Donald
Trump and Mitch McConnell stacked the decks when yet another Republican
commissioner was confirmed to FERC, leaving the Commission unbalanced. This is
despite current law that says the FERC should be an independent and bipartisan
commission…
“…Oregon Governor Kate
Brown responded with a statement, saying in part: "Given a national and
state emergency, in which the federal government and its agencies are unable to
fulfill their basic responsibility to keep citizens safe, it is stunning that
the FERC moved forward on this decision today, approving the Jordan Cove
project and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline…"
“…FERC has wrongly
approved a pipeline that would harm our burial grounds, pollute our waterways,
and endanger our community,” said Klamath Tribal member Ka’ila Farrell-Smith.
“For years my Tribe, and others, have advocated to stop Jordan Cove LNG, and we
will continue to stand up until this pipeline is stopped for good...”
Oregon has already denied key permits for this projects so thankfully,
the FERC decision doesn’t mean Jordan Cove LNG is immediately moving forward. The
legal struggle will continue and the indigenous
people of Northern California and Southern Oregon will battle with COVID – 19 while
at the same time fighting to save their traditional land from the greed of both
the United States government and their Canadians business partners. Compounding
the struggle will be Trump’s recent (July, 2020) “…rollback to the
country’s landmark environmental law, the National Environmental
Policy Act, by speeding up approval for federal projects like pipelines,
highways and power plants…”
In recognition of the
monumental efforts of the Northern California and Southern Oregon people, Athraigh
Studio would like to help make you familiar with the art created by a
printmaker who I greatly admire:
Rick Bartow.
“Rick was many things:
a Native American, a decorated Vietnam veteran, a contemporary artist and an
intellectual. He was born and raised in Newport, Oregon. He was a member of the
Mad River Band of the Wiyot Indians and had close ties to the nearby Siletz
Reservation. After studying art for a time at what is now Western Oregon
University, he was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam. The trauma he
experienced there left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and caused him
to struggle with alcoholism for most of the 1970s.
He found his way out of
those dark years by reconnecting with Indigenous tradition, immersing himself
in the beauty of nature and embracing the therapeutic and redemptive power of
art. Rick once described this process by saying, “I drew myself straight.” His
work is raw and powerful, and it exhibits a hard-won sense of optimism.
Untitled (2003)
Blue Coyote
Monotype, 15"h 22.5"w
Untitled
Monotype on Rives BFK
22"h15"w
Untitled (Coyote/Dog
Monotype)
Monotype, 22"h 24.5"w, 2001
Untitled (Yellow Winged
Bird)
Monotype, Mixed Media
Kestrel with Horizon
Paper & image size:
30” x 22 3/8”, 2008.
Please visit the Athraigh Print Studio
Website:
Youtube Version:
Instagram:
joel.elgin.athraighprintstudio
Twitter:
More on Rick Bartow and
the Northern California and Southern Oregon indigenous people:
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
