The art of erosion   James Lavadour on the beauty of water
stains  When James Lavadour was a child growing up on the
Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon in the 1950s, he
would lie in bed and stare up at the stained and peeling ceiling
of his grandmother's house. That worn and warped surface, he
says, was his Sistine Chapel: a thing of reverence,
contemplation and mystery. He studied the cracks and water marks
and imperfections, and he saw in them "spaces and other worlds,
vistas and other places that were incredible." He saw in that
humble surface a profound and beautiful work of art, and he
discovered the organic and idiosyncratic way of painting that
has led him, by a difficult and indirect route, to his place as
one of the most exciting and well-regarded artists currently
working in the Pacific Northwest.  When you see Horse Stories,
the ongoing exhibition of his recent work at the Missoula Art
Museum, you'll see bright, kinetic paintings often composed of
multiple panels and you will discover in