Tamástslikt Cultural Institute Opens Cradleboard Exhibit Featuring Mitchell Collection Items

MISSION – The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute (Tamástslikt) opened its “Tíkaaš (pronounced Tee Cash): The Precious Art of Cradleboards” exhibit on June 5 – the first showing of items from the Fred L. Mitchell collection since the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) acquired it in March.

Tamástslikt Director Bobbie Conner said most of the cradleboards featured in the new exhibit are from the Mitchell collection. However, two are from Tamástslikt’s collection prior to the Mitchell acquisition, and one is on loan from the Maryhill Museum in Washington. Three cradleboards are made by CTUIR member Maynard White Owl Lavadour, while the others are attributed to Columbia River Plateau, Cayuse, Yakama and Nez Perce makers.

“Babies are our future, and when we envelop them in not only safety and security but express how precious they are in these art forms like cradleboards, the everyday ones as well as the ceremonial ones, it’s a way of projecting that we are a hopeful people, that we intend to be here forever,” Conner said.

Tamástslikt Assistant Director of Operations Randall Melton said the public should make the trip to the institute to see the exhibit before it ends on Aug. 29 because of its beauty and uniqueness.

“You won’t find another collection of cradleboards like these Plateau cradleboards anywhere,” he said. “And the vintage of it showing the process of putting them together and the time period that they were made in is really something to think about when today we can just go buy a baby carrier…. It’s just a collection that we’ve seen nowhere else with that many Plateau-style beaded cradleboards.”

Conner said although the cradleboard show is the first show since the CTUIR took ownership of the Mitchell collection, it’s the institute’s fourth exhibit showcasing items from it. Other shows were “100 Painted Horses,” “Extraordinary Elk,” and last year’s “Pride and Patriotism.”

The CTUIR on March 31 took possession of the vast assortment of Columbia River Plateau tribal artwork and artifacts known as Mitchell collection, including hundreds of exquisitely beaded bags and pouches; dresses; vests; gauntlets; horse-trappings; cornhusk bags; huckleberry baskets; more than 1,250 late 19th and early 20th century photographs; and roughly 15,000 lithic points and tools.

Tamástslikt is at 47106 Wildhorse Blvd. For information, visit https://www.tamastslikt.org/ or call 541-429-7700.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is comprised of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla Tribes, and formed under the Treaty of 1855 at the Walla Walla Valley, 12 Stat. 945. In 1949, the Tribes adopted a constitutional form of government to protect, preserve and enhance the reserved treaty rights guaranteed under federal law.