(Above: Painting by artist Nancy Helmsworth, whose show is on view at the Don Dexter Gallery through Aug. 29, 2026.)
Edited by Randi Bjornstad
A new show, kulla kulla Creek: Resilient and Manhandled, is on display at the Don Dexter Gallery through Aug. 29. The show focuses the advocacy of Portland artist Nancy Helmsworth to properly name public lands that have deep Native American histories.
Helmsworth will be at the gallery to give an artist’s talk at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8.
Here’s what Dexter has to say about the Helsmworth and her show:
In this series of work, she has directed her focus to kulla kulla* Creek (*bird in chinuk-wawa), flowing within Forest Park in Portland, through the Bird Alliance and along Lower Macleay Trail. Nancy leads the effort to officially rename the creek to kulla kulla in consultation with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.
The stream is officially named Balch Creek for Danford Balch, who occupied the land claim in 1850. Balch was Oregon’s first tried, convicted, and executed murderer in 1859, and yet a creek in a public space continues to bear his name.
Simultaneously, Nancy has dug deep into “settler” history to respond to the jarring intersection of the colonial mapping/gridding of the area with the wild nature and its persistent energy. This man-made overlay is a metaphor for much of the imbalance between Western culture and land, as well as a direct action against the original Oregonians – the Tribes, as an act of erasure and domination.
At the Don Dexter Gallery: kulla kulla Creek
When: Through Aug. 29, 2026
Where: 2911 Tennyson Ave, No. 202, Eugene (In Crescent Village)
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
Information: 541-606-9427
