Chief’s Blanket

“Each day I get up and paint. Art is work, but I love it and so it seems more like play. I feel very blessed to have been able to spend my life doing what I love.” – Charles Pabst

Visitors will be delighted to explore Charles Pabst art as part of the Marcus Ashley Gallery’s growing collection of fine exhibits. The staff is happy to help with inquiries on the artist’s work, whether online or offline.

In 1889, Thomas Kay opened the Pendleton Woolen Mills in Salem, Oregon. Over time, he’d make Pendleton Indian blankets for the tribes of Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla. Interestingly, the blankets weren’t created equally. Pendleton Indian blankets were made, keeping specific designs and patterns of the different tribes in mind. In Chief’s Blanket, Pabst captures this woolen essential’s intricate and unique nature.

The artist paints the chief with a blanket wrapped around him to ward off the nippy night air. Standing against the adobe dwellings of his tribe, the chief appears pensive and deep in thought in the glow of the bonfire. Pabst paints the blanket in a soft ochre hue around black and white geometric motifs. The artist reveals that the Pendelton blanket continues to be worn by the tribespeople of today.