2005 Symposium Rivers

Keynote Speaker William Kittredge

bill kittredge

William Kittredge is a master storyteller, a thoughtful humanist, and a celebrated author. He grew up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Oregon and farmed there for many years before turning his attention to writing. In 1969 Kittredge received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa and went on to teach Creative Writing at the University of Montana where he was Regents Professor of English and Creative Writing until he retired in the spring of 1997.

Kittredge has held a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, received two writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and two Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Awards for Excellence. He was winner of the Montana Governor's Award for the Arts, co-winner of the Montana Committee for the Humanities Award for Humanist of the Year, and winner of the PEN West Award for non-fiction book of the year. He is the author of many books, essays, and articles, including The Nature of Generosity, 2000, Balancing Water: Restoring the Klamath Basin, 2000, Hole in the Sky: A Memoir, 1992,Owning it All: Essays, 1987, The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology, 1988. In addition Kittredge has published his essays and stories in more than fifty magazines and newspapers.

Mr. Kittredge kicks off Lewis & Clark College's two-day symposium with a lecture on September 29, 2005, 7:30 p.m. at The Native American Student and Community Center, 710 S.W. Jackson Avenue in Portland. This event is ticketed separately from the symposium. Tickets are available at the Provost's office at Lewis & Clark College beginning August 29. $8 general admission, $5 students and seniors. For more information call 503-768-7200.

See Rivers Symposium Schedule

Rivers Art Exhibit

The Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art will open its 2005-06 Season with an exhibition exploring the theme of rivers, featuring two artist activists who use their work to document the contemporary environment and record human manipulation of that environment. Robert Glenn Ketchum’s photography captures a vast watershed that drains from the summits and uplands of the Alaska and Aleutian mountain ranges, west to Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea. The area is home to three national wildlife refuges and two national parks; it is also the most productive salmon fishery in the history of the world.

In contrast, Ryan Burns is a young, emerging artist who lives most of the year in New Orleans. Each summer, he drives his decommissioned ambulance, fueled by discarded restaurant cooking oil, across country to the Pacific Northwest, where he hunts for clear-cuts. After finding the largest and freshest cut possible, Burns spreads a huge piece of paper across the stump and makes a rubbing—simultaneously documenting the life of the tree and the mark of the lumberjack. Burns uses the rubbing as ground for further drawing and collage.

Learn More

For further information regarding this symposium and Bicentennial Programs, contact bicprog@lclark.edu or Sherry Manning, Director, Bicentennial Programs, 503 768-7200.