Exhibitions
The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum offers both permanent museum exhibits as well as short-term special exhibits. Our permanent museum exhibits parallel our mission of inspiring appreciation and stewardship of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and Wasco County through collection, preservation and interpretation of cultural and natural history resources. Cultivated from the input of our community, supporters, staff, and visitors, the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum offers a variety of exhibits throughout the year.
A New Exhibition about Caring for the Land that Sustains Us
An Exploration of the History and Evolution of the Imperial Stock Ranch
Where sustainable sheep ranching from the high desert of Central Oregon meets the world of high fashion and the Olympics
The exhibition tells the remarkable story of the Imperial Stock Ranch located near Shaniko, Oregon and the journey from its founding in 1871 by Oregon trail pioneers to the current day. Beginning in the late 1980s, Jeanne Carver, along with her late husband Dan Carver, transformed Imperial Stock Ranch into a modern leader in regenerative ranching and farming. Faced with devastation in America's wool market in the late 1990s, Jeanne and Dan successfully transitioned from selling commodity wool to providing traceable wool products to the eco-chic fashion and retail markets. The Carvers' focus on caring for the land is what set their wool apart from the global competition.
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When a new international third-party certification program called the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) launched in 2016, Imperial Stock Ranch became the first sheep operation in the world to be certified. With interest from fashion brands growing, they founded Shaniko Wool Company two years later to scale up the supply of U.S. grown certified wool, forming a consortium of American wool producers committed to sustainable ranching.
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Imperial Stock Ranch and now Shaniko Wool Company wool has become sought-after by global high-fashion and textile markets. Notably, their wool has been featured four times in the official Olympic Team USA uniforms designed and produced by Ralph Lauren—most recently in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
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Come and discover A Sense of Place for yourself.
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Experience an extraordinary collection of ranching and textile artifacts—including the Olympic uniforms.
About Jeanne Carver
For more than 25 years, Jeanne has been at the forefront of the slow food and slow fashion movements, rebuilding the importance of traditional skills, connections to the origins of food and fiber, and strengthening local, regional and domestic supply chain partners.
​​Her story is one of successful adaptation to changing markets. From her family’s Imperial Stock Ranch in Wasco County (est. 1871), she and her late husband Dan went from selling commodity lamb and wool in 1999, to selling retail products that were ecologically sensitive. Almost twenty years later, they created Shaniko Wool Company, and Jeanne oversaw the expansion of Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified American wool into a variety of products and markets.
Jeanne has built a growing network of ranchers, designers and brands, working exclusively with U.S. supply chain partners for 25 years; and expanding to international markets beginning in 2024. In an era of outsourcing and disconnect, she has led with traceability and accountability. In 2014, Jeanne became the source and voice of American wool for Ralph Lauren’s first Made in America Team USA Winter Olympic uniform program, and again in 2018, 2022 and for the summer Olympics in Paris 2024. Since 2020, she has partnered with Oregon State University in a comprehensive research effort to measure and verify results of an even greater story: the net environmental impacts of Shaniko Wool Company ranching operations across a broad piece of the American landscape.
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Jeanne is an award-winning agricultural entrepreneur and author, receiving both the American Sheep Industry Innovation Award and the Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Hall of Fame Award in 2023, and the Global Trailblazer Award in 2025. She was featured in His Majesty at 75: The Leadership and Vision of King Charles III, for her work in regenerative wool production and promoting the provenance of wool in fashion.
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Jeanne speaks at a variety of events on topics that include their ranch's history, regenerative agriculture, the evolution of their marketing program, and the environmental impacts of the ranches who are part of Shaniko Wool Company.
AWARDS
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Orchid Award for Women of Influence, Portland Business Journal
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Oregon Agriculture Connection Award for leadership in connecting consumers to the source of food and fiber
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Female Farmers Changing the Fashion Industry, Pratt Institute of New York
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American Sheep Industry Innovation Award
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Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Hall of Fame
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2025 Global Trailblazer Award from the Oregon Consular Corps
About Kristina Foley
Wool Fiber Artist Krsitina Foley's work is also on exhibit. Her major work, Flock, is now hanging in the Wilcox Wing and will remain in our permanent collection—a generous gift of Jeanne Carver. Foley is also showing other works that are available for purchase. Foley uses Shaniko Merino Wool for the foundation of these works as well as wool from shepherds in the Pacific Northwest and across the American West
Kristina was introduced to felting wool while completing a BFA in Fiber Structure and Interlocking at Syracuse University (2005) and continued her practice in Italy after graduation. Using the ancient technique of felt-making, her large-scale felted works invite viewers into lush, tactile landscapes.
For Kristina, natural fibers are not just materials, but living connections to landscapes, economies, and cultural lineages. Each fiber carries the stories of the people and places it comes from.
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View Kristina's Instagram account to see more!
Photo by Christine James
Created for "A Sense of Place", Flock is made using wool from small farms across the Pacific Northwest, the different sheep are gathered in a field of Shaninko Wool Company merino. Each fleece is sourced directly from regional shepherds and hand felted.
7 x 11 feet.