Rather than show photographs of the two pieces of Lillian Pitt's work that I have, I will let her writing, and two of my favorite Lillian Pitt artworks, speak for her. She is a legendary and deeply respected First Nations artist and Elder. Lillian Pitt: Native American Artist.
"Lillian Pitt’s mixed media art reflects Native American culture of the Columbia River Gorge, and helps to give voice to her ancestors.
No other medium is more fun for me to work with than mixed media. The creative possibilities are endless.
I mix new objects with old objects, contemporary and traditional, steel with porcelain, beads and feathers … you name it, anything goes.
As with all the types of art I create, my mixed media art reflects Native American culture of the Columbia River Gorge. But when I mix media, I’m sometimes able to elaborate a little more on the story. I can jazz it up a bit, add a different twist or angle".
Crow, Trying to fix up his Old House. Photograph ©Lillian Pitt.
Lillian has created hundreds of unique mixed media pieces over the years, but she still remembers the stories of how most of them came about. Here, for example, is her story about the piece titled Crow, Trying to fix up his Old House .
I collect old things and objects from nature that look interesting to me, and then I wonder how they can be used. I collect shells rocks, metal containers, wood … whatever. I’ve become a real pack rat.
And all this stuff just sits around my studio while I keep looking at it and picking it up, and wondering what I’m going to do with it … until finally, an idea comes.
So an artist friend of mine, Rick Bartow, knew I collected old things and gave me an old piece of wood he thought I might like. Eventually, I ended up putting Crow on it. But it took a while to figure out what to do.
The board was cracked, so I fixed it up with copper wire. And this made me think of my old home in “Hollywood.” That’s what we called the place on the Warm Springs Reservation where we lived when I was a young girl. It was a joke of course because all the homes there were old and dilapidated, and we were always trying to patch them up with whatever types of odds-and-ends might be laying around over there.
But now I had the idea. The crow I ended up with on that old cracked board, was just like the beautiful people I knew growing up on the Warm Springs Reservation, who were always trying to fix up their old houses.
—Lillian Pitt
River Guardian: South Waterfront, Portland, Oregon. Photograph ©Lillian Pitt.
River Guardian has two faces. One looks toward the river, the other toward land. The two faces indicate that she watches over the safety of people both on the river and land.
About River Guardian Project
The project was commissioned to commemorate a community development effort along the South Waterfront Greenway Park in Portland, Oregon. The commission resulted from a joint effort between the Portland State University Native American community, and the Portland City Parks.
River Guardian watches over all of the people in the area where she is situated, within the South Waterfront neighborhood of Portland, along the Willamette River.
She is the result of a collaboration between Lillian Pitt and Mikkel Hilde.
River Guardian’s body is made of copper and steel, and her head is made of lead crystal glass. Her headdress is made of steel. She is 9 feet tall.
~Lillian Pitt ~ River Guardian
See a few more beautiful pieces of Lillian Pitt's art here: Art in the High Desert ~ Mixed Media
Attribution notice: all photographs and intellectual property ( quoted content) of ©Lillian Pitt.
