Lillian Pitt: An Artist Whose Modern Creations Have Ancient Roots

By Lauren Monsen

Third in a series of four articles

The U.S. environmental movement, which began to emerge in the 1800s, often is viewed as a fairly recent phenomenon since it did not achieve widespread public support until the 1960s-70s. But to Lillian Pitt - a Native American artist whose heritage can be traced to the Warm Springs, Yakima and Wasco tribes of the Pacific Northwest - living in harmony with nature is a creed that her people have practiced for centuries, and her artwork pays tribute to that age-old philosophy.

Pitt has been exhibiting her contemporary sculpture, carvings, masks, jewelry, ceramics and paper-based works for more than 20 years, and she is known for interpreting traditional themes in nontraditional materials such as bronze and raku (a type of pottery produced with Japanese firing methods). Among her most celebrated works are a series of monumental sculptures that adorn public spaces in Oregon, including the Hillsboro Civic Center and the city of Portland's public transit system. To honor the region's ecology and indigenous cultures, Pitt's designs use tribal motifs to represent the life-sustaining interconnections of the natural world.

According to Pitt, the myths and stories of her ancestors serve as a basis for the imagery she creates. "My ancestors have a 10,000-year history in the Columbia River Gorge" area of Washington state and Oregon, she said. "Much of my work has to do with the preservation and care of the environment along this ancient waterway."

One of the recurring images in Pitt's work is a legendary figure known as "She Who Watches," based on a petroglyph that represents Tsagaglal, a female leader from long ago. Tribal lore explains that Tsagaglal wanted to watch over her people forever, so Coyote the Trickster granted that wish by changing her into a rock. "The 'She Who Watches' petroglyph sits high above the Columbia River, overlooking the village where my great-grandmother lived," Pitt said. "Under her watchful gaze, we remember her as the last woman chief of the Columbia River people. ... To me, she is also a perpetual witness to the fragile ecology of the river."

Among her many incarnations, Tsagaglal appears on a totem-style sculpture that Pitt produced in 2004 for the Ainsworth Greenspace Plaza near a Portland public rail station. Pitt's sculpture, titled She Who Watches, is topped by Tsagaglal's stylized head, rendered in bronze with eyes wide open, eternally vigilant. She Who Watches is flanked by two other totem figures (Salmon and Crow - created, respectively, by local indigenous artists Ken MacKintosh and Rick Bartow). Collectively, the three sculptures are called "River Spirits," and each represents a legendary or sacred being in Native American culture.

Although Pitt's artistry is widely admired for its elegance and powerful symbolism, her career was launched seemingly by accident. She had been a successful hairdresser, but when back problems forced her to find a different occupation, she returned to school to learn new skills. Along the way, she signed up for a ceramics class, strictly for fun. The tactile experience of handling and molding clay changed her plans entirely. "It was love at first touch," she recalled.

Pitt soon began devoting herself to a variety of artistic pursuits, mastering different forms and techniques. She also began researching her family roots and tribal heritage, which gave her "a profound sense of identity," she said. Her strong commitment to preserving the history of her ancestral homeland dictated her present course, and her attraction to ancient tribal symbols led inexorably to Tsagaglal.

That perpetually watchful icon is featured in another major project of Pitt's, titled The Riverbed (2005). Commissioned as a public art piece by the Hillsboro Civic Center, The Riverbed recreates the ancient petroglyphs of the Columbia River Gorge - and underscores the need to safeguard the petroglyphs and their immediate surroundings. The gorge is considered the Pacific Northwest's premier site of prehistoric art, so public access is limited. By recreating the Columbia riverbed, its surrounding cliffs and the site's haunting petroglyphs - mysterious designs etched onto the surface of rocks by ancient Americans - Pitt has ensured that everyone can safely enjoy the region's cultural and environmental treasures.

In the two decades since Pitt discovered her artistic vocation, her work has been exhibited and reviewed in the United States, Europe, New Zealand and Japan. In addition, she has won numerous awards, including the Earle A. Chiles Award in 2007, bestowed in recognition of her "accomplishments in promoting thoughtful management of the natural and cultural resources of the Intermountain West" region of the United States.

As art critic Sue Taylor has observed, Pitt's Indian name, Wak'amu (Strongly Rooted), is a fitting description of an artist who seeks to preserve an ancient tribal culture and its setting. "The term might also describe her art," writes Taylor, "for although her approach to form and materials is eclectic and contemporary," her pieces "are always rooted in her Native American tradition."

More information on Pitt's work ( http://www.lillianpitt.com/index.html ) is available on her Web site.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)