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Teachers, The Fred Oldfield Western Heritage & Art Center can offer your class a wonderful learning opportunity outside of the classroom.
The Center offers visual displays, docent lead tours of the artifacts as well as the artwork, a visit with a genuine working artist, and hands on learning in the areas of Art and Washington State History.
The Center follows the life and art of artist Fred Oldfield. The son of Washington State Pioneers, Fred lived a transient life with has family, living wherever there was work in the Yakima Valley. He spent most of his young life on the Yakima Indian Reservation working as a cowhand. Displays of antiques and artifacts at the Center show his life with the Indians, as a cowhand, as a farm worker, as well as early pioneer life as he knew it.
The Center proudly presents one of the most extensive Native American Basket and Native Artifact collections in the Pacific Northwest. The pieces span from the Plains Indians to the NW Indians. The baskets are primarily Cowlitz.
The Center gives instructors a new and fun way to help students meet the EALR requirements for Washington State History. It shows the Native cultures of Washington, the settlement of our pioneers and how they lived before and during the great depression, as well as the interaction of those pioneers with the Native Cultures during the early 1900’s. The Center also talks about Fred’s experience in WWll.
Fred is now in his young 90’s, but still as full of life as ever. He is a one of a kind cowboy who will personally be there to tell the kids his stories and instruct them in a drawing project. He is a genuine working artist, whose art is in collections worldwide. He is acknowledged as one of the premier painters of the American West in the United States. The center houses over 100 pieces of Fred’s art, from his earliest work to works in progress that the kids can watch him paint! Each piece of Fred’s artwork tells a story about the old west and his personal experiences.
The Docents will lead the students through the displays helping them to identify specific attributes that reflect the culture and history of the old west or the Native Americans Fred can also talk about his career in art and the skills and knowledge he uses to be successful in the working art world. Social Studies EALRS 3 - GLE's 3.2.2, 3.2.3, 3.3.1, 4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.4.1 and The Arts EARLS 1through1.4, 2. through 2.3, 3. through 3.3, 4. through 4.5
Tours run from 1 to 2 hours in length to accommodate your class. The fee is $2 per student including an Art project with a minimum of $30 a tour. There will be no charge for the teachers, drivers or chaperons.
Please contact the Fred Oldfield Western Heritage & Art Center today to set up a time for your classroom trip. Please call at least 2 weeks in advance. There will be no tours on Wednesdays. 866-445-9175 or 253-752-9708.
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