Josephy Center installs Nez Perce bronze

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Josephy Center to feature new Nez Perce bronze sculpture at its entry.

On Saturday, June 22, the Josephy Center will celebrate the installation of a new sculpture in its courtyard in Joseph. Talks and a drum ceremony begin at 2 p.m. There will be a salmon feed for the public at 4 p.m.

The name of the sculpture is ‘etweyé·wise, which means, in the Nez Perce language, “I return from a difficult journey.”

The artist is Nez Perce tribal member Doug Hyde, who was born in Hermiston and raised on the Nez Perce Reservation at Lapwai, Idaho.

He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe at 17 years old, is a Viet Nam veteran and is now one of the leading sculptors in the country.

Almost two years ago the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture received a large “Creative Heights” grant from the Oregon Community Foundation for a bronze sculpture by a Native American artist.

The Josephy Center pointed out that although many bronze statues lining Joseph’s Main Street depict Indians, none are the work of Indian artists.

The Center issued a call to Plateau Indian artists across the Northwest. Two artist finalists were selected by jurors representing the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, and the Nez Perce people on the Colville Reservation in Washington.

Doug Hyde’s winning design, which will be installed at the Josephy Center this week, features a large slab of granite with the outline of the Wallowa Mountains carved at its top and the outline of a Nez Perce woman carved from its center.

The life-sized woman, in bronze, is walking towards the granite, returning to her homeland from a difficult journey.

This sculpture is a highlight and reminder of the many places where the Nez Perce presence is strong in Wallowa County, including the Wallowa Band Nez Perce Interpretive Center and Tamkaliks celebration in Wallowa, the Nez Perce Friendship Feast at Chief Joseph Days, and the Nez Perce Fisheries offices and restoration projects.