New Public Art, Opening Of Plaza Celebrated In Ceremony At Oregon’s State Capitol Building (Photo) - 05/29/26
SALEM, Ore. – Leaders from Oregon’s federally recognized Tribes, as well as artists and legislators, gathered Tuesday to recognize the installation of new works by artists throughout the state Capitol grounds as part of the completion of the 10-year renovation of Oregon’s Capitol building.
Hosted in the newly completed Capitol Plaza, the gathering included blessings of drumming and song as well as remarks from Tribal leaders:
- Chair Cheryl Kennedy of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
- Chair Delores Pigsley of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz
- Vice Chair Carlos Calica of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs with Wasco Chief Jefferson Greene
- Chair Carla Keene of the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians
- Chair Kathryn Brigham of the Confederate Tribes of Umatilla
- Chief Doug Barrett and Julie Siestreem, member of the Tribal Council, of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
- Chair William Ray Jr. of The Klamath Tribes
Also speaking to commemorate the occasion were artist Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D. (Nez Perce, Cayuse), Oregon Arts Commissioner David Harrelson (Grand Ronde-Kalapuya), Oregon Arts Commission Chair Jason Holland, House Speaker Julie Fahey and Senate President Robert Wagner.
The public may now experience the new artworks, which are both inside and outside the Capitol building. Learn more about visiting the Capitol at oregoncapitol.com.
The new public art was installed through the state’s Percent for Art in Public Places Program, managed by the Oregon Arts Commission. Oregon's legislation incorporating public art into state construction and renovation projects was established in 1975. The statute mandates that a fraction of a project budget goes toward art.
Each public art process is led by an art selection committee connected with the place and people the project will serve. The Oregon State Capitol’s committee began with a collective mission statement and goals for the art program to: illustrate and celebrate ideas of democracy; represent different lived experiences of Oregonians; expand artist representation; exist in many disciplines and be informed by ways in which these are expressed and embraced by different communities; spark thoughtfulness, engage interest and provide opportunities for education; and use accessible language, design and functionality.
Over the past 50 years, more than 2,600 artworks have been placed in public spaces throughout the state. Learn more about the Percent for Art in Public Places Program here and view Percent for Art in Public Places artworks online on the Oregon Arts Commission’s Percent for Art Collection site (state-of-oregon-art-collection.org).
NEW ART AT THE CAPITOL
Oregon Voices developed by Phillip Cash Cash, Ph.D. (Nez Perce, Cayuse)
Cash Cash is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and a Cayuse/Nez Perce scholar, artist and cultural practitioner whose work engages Indigenous philosophy, language and knowledge systems. Trained in anthropology and Indigenous studies, his research and creative practice center on the relationships between orality, place and the transmission of cultural knowledge across generations.
Cash Cash developed Oregon Voices for the Capitol exterior in collaboration with Mayer/Reed Landscape Architects. The project brings forward words of Tribal leaders, Elders and Culture Bearers, drawn from historical and contemporary contexts. These texts are inscribed on large, natural boulders integrated into the main public entrance plaza as a space for recognition, engagement and understanding of the strength, sovereignty and worldview of the Indigenous peoples who lived on Oregon lands long before statehood.
“In this material translation, language is returned to the land in a permanent and public way,” Cash Cash said. “The stones function as markers of Indigenous presence, resilience and enduring systems of knowledge that have and continue to shape Oregon.”
Work on Oregon Voices will continue. In total, 50 texts will be selected for Oregon Voices and presented in a digital exhibition to amplify the physical space.
+++++++COOS///LOWER UMPQUA///SIUSLAW))) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (((( 2026 >>>>>>> by Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos)
Artist and educator Siestreem (b. 1976) created an etched glass piece at one main interior stairwell with designs from traditional basket weave patterns. Siestreem is a multidisciplinary artist from the Umpqua River Valley in Oregon, working in painting, photography, printmaking, weaving and large-scale installation. She combines the ceremonial traditions of her ancestors with contemporary modes and materials at the intersection of social and ecological justice, education and Indigenous feminism.
In 2025, Siestreem was inducted into the National Academy of Design and honored as a Hallie Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts. Her work is in collections including the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, New York), Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, Calif.), Gochman Family Foundation (Miami, Fla.), Forge Project (Mahicannituck Valley, New York), Missoula Art Museum (Missoula, Mont.), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and the Portland Art Museum. She was included in the landmark 2023 book “An Indigenous Present,” conceived and edited by Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee).
Siestreem comes from a family of professional artists and educators. Her lifelong mentor is Lillian Pitt (Wasco, Warm Springs, Yakama) and her weaving teachers are Greg Archuleta (Grand Ronde) and Greg A. Robinson (Chinook Nation). Siestreem graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Portland State University in 2005. She earned a Master of Fine Arts with distinction from the Pratt Art Institute in 2007. She lives and works in Portland, and she is represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery.
Nature Oregoniana by Oliver Casillas
Another main interior stairwell now features an etched glass piece depicting the flora and fauna of Oregon by muralist and art educator Casillas.
Casillas (b. 1995) is a Mexican-American multidisciplinary artist, researcher and cultural practitioner whose work explores identity, memory, migration and collective storytelling. His practice draws from oral traditions, personal narratives and shared cultural experiences to create spaces for reflection, dialogue and belonging.
Casillas holds a Master’s Degree in Education and Expression for the Arts from the University of Guadalajara, a postgraduate specialization in Creativity and Project Development from the Université de Namur in Belgium and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from ITESO University. His interdisciplinary background informs an artistic practice that bridges conceptual development, technical execution and social engagement.
Casillas has developed projects that examine the experience of migration, cultural identity and the meaning of home. The Pacific Northwest resonates deeply with his own story, becoming both a source of inspiration and home. His work has been supported through multiple awards, grants and public commissions across the United States and Mexico.
Casillas has completed large-scale mural and public art projects, and his work has been exhibited in galleries, museums and public spaces in collaboration with cultural institutions, municipalities, universities and community organizations in Oregon and throughout Mexico.
Iliʔi, kusax̣, salt-tsəqw (Land, Air, Sea), a set of two cast bronze paddle groupings in raised courtyards by artists Shirod Younker (Coquille/Miluk Coos/Umpqua) and Tony A. Johnson (Chinook) working with carver and fabricator Adam McIsaac.
Johnson (b. 1970) is Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation. He is also a Chinuk Wawa language teacher. Johnson was born in South Bend, Washington, and studied Art and Anthropology at the University of Washington and Central Washington University. As an artist, cultural practitioner, writer and educator, his work has been central to the contemporary revitalization of Chinookan visual culture in the Lower Columbia River region.
A full-time artist, McIsaac (b. 1972) creates carved wooden and bronze sculptures, as well as paintings and prints. A prodigious non-Native carver and fabricator, McIsaac uses tools and materials based on Indigenous Northwest Coast carving traditions. He collaborates widely with local Indigenous communities, with a focus on the artistic traditions of the Columbia River Tribes. McIsaac lives and works in La Center, on the Columbia River in Southwestern Washington.
Younker (b. 1972) is a traditional carver and sculptor from Coos Bay. He studied at Oregon State University, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Applied Arts in 2001, and now lives in Portland. His practice centers relationships between material culture, environmental stewardship and intergenerational knowledge, with particular attention to the revitalization of traditional canoe and paddle forms and Indigenous design systems. Alongside his studio work, Younker has led and developed influential youth arts initiatives including Journeys in Creativity and Changing Currents.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, arts programs and funding for nonprofits and artists through its grants, special initiatives and services. Commissioners appointed by the Governor establish policies and provide advisory support for public investment in the arts. The Arts Commission is part of Business Oregon in recognition of the vital role the arts play in supporting the economies, educational opportunities and vibrancy of communities throughout the state.
The Oregon Arts Commission is supported with funds appropriated by the Oregon Legislature, as well as by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Oregon Cultural Trust. Learn more at artscommission.oregon.gov and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
