Tahoma, 2015
Screen print in 4 colors
23 x 23 inches

Edition of 50
Numbered, titled and signed on recto

Tahoma is cut and printed after the design of McFadden’s large-scale painting of the same title. Referring directly to the original name of Mount Rainier, Tahoma continues her reinterpretation of Pacific Northwest geography, Native languages and the design movements that have shaped her career. “I experienced a different Pacific Northwest as a young person than the one that exists now,” she notes. “Growing up in Oregon, Washington and throughout coastal Alaska, Indian culture was very much a part of my life. The names and sounds have great meaning to me. It was also a different way of seeing; a different world that I related to.”

Ellen Mcfadden was born in Portland, Oregon in 1928 and has been working in art and design throughout her entire life. Known for her vibrant abstract paintings, Tahoma is among a new series of works that bring her designs to a printed medium. Her paintings have been the focus of solo and group exhibitions at Ampersand and Wieden+Kennedy. McFadden is also among the 34 artists selected for Portland2016 Biennial; her work will be exhibited over the summer at the Hoffman Gallery at Oregon College of Art and Craft.