Happy New Year 2025

by | Jan 4, 2025 | Portrait of Gene

Shoalwater Bay Tribe field trip to the Washington State History Museum, November 2024. L-R: Keven Shipman, Winona Mail Weber, Davin Culp.

 

More than 30 years after his death, Eugene Landry, artist, is gaining long overdue recognition. The response to his ongoing exhibits at the Governor’s Mansion and the State History Museum have been overwhelmingly positive—and personal. Many who previously had never heard of Eugene Landry, leave the exhibitions referring to him as “Gene.”

For those who knew Gene in his lifetime, seeing his art on the museum walls is especially gratifying. In November 2024, the Shoalwater Bay Tribe’s Education Department sponsored a field trip to the State History Museum in Tacoma. The stories flowed as Gene’s former portrait models toured the exhibition and recalled what life was like on the reservation in Gene’s time.

What is Native Art? Eugene Landry and the Creative Spirit will be on display through March 30 2025.

PLEASE NOTE:

From January 2 through January 12, 2025, the museum will offer discounted admission with access to special exhibitions on the fifth floor only. Exhibitions on view include “The Mountain Was Out,” “MAKERS ON THE TIDE: The Willits Brothers and Their Handmade Canoes,” “Collections Selections: A Parachute from the D.B. Cooper Investigation,” and “What is Native Art? Eugene Landry and the Creative Spirit.”
The entire museum will be closed from January 13 through February 17, 2025, to install a new permanent exhibition, “This Is Native Land.” The museum will reopen on February 18, 2025, with contained construction continuing in the Great Hall of Washington History. “This is Native Land” is set to open in the summer of 2025.
Business and research operations will continue as usual during this time. For more information visit https://bit.ly/WSHMclosure

 

 

Sharing here photo highlights from the Shoalwater Bay November 2024 field trip:

Gabriel Landry with his portrait by Gene, 1966.

Tribal members loaned items of modern Shoalwater Bay history for the exhibit, such as 1970s jeans jacket embroidered with Tribal insignia. Photo by Keven Shipman.

 

Monty Baker, standing next to portrait of his uncle (and Gene’s cousin) Kenneth “Poggie” Baker.

 

Winona Mail Weber, gesturing to portrait of Nina Bumgarner, her maternal grandmother, daughter of Chief George Allen Charley.