Ancient Wisdom, Present Spirits
New Works by Lillian Pitt

It is with great honor that we welcome back Lillian Pitt to the White Lotus Gallery. Since the gallery’s first one-person show for Ms. Pitt in 2019, she continues to create and show new works of art in the Pacific Northwest and around the country. From exhibitions at the Missoula Art Museum, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Columbia Center for the Arts to a public artwork for the new Lake Oswego City Hall and being recognized as a History Maker by the Oregon Historical Society, Lillian Pitt strives to pay homage to her ancestors, the environment and the animals. A descendent of Warm Springs, Wasco and Yakama people, she studied designs used in rock art, baskets, beaded bags and dresses. With a wide range of media, such as clay, glass, bronze and jewelry, Ms. Pitt depicts animals and people and honors the petroglyphs and pictographs created by her ancestors along the Columbia River Gorge. Regardless of the materials used, her contemporary works are aimed at giving voice to her people and maintaining a link with tradition.

Lillian Pitt is one of the most highly regarded Native American artists in the Pacific Northwest. Her works have been exhibited and reviewed regionally, nationally and internationally, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions. These distinctions include the 2007 Earle A. Chiles Award for Lifetime Achievement and the 1990 Governor’s Award of the Oregon Arts Commission, which declared that she had made “significant contributions to the growth and development of the cultural life of Oregon.” When introducing Pitt for the 2021 History Maker Awards, Kerry Tymchuk, Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society, said that “perhaps no artist [had] done more to keep the culture of Oregon’s indigenous people strong and to connect the present with the past than [Lillian Pitt.]” Her works are found in personal collections, art galleries and museums, such as the Portland Art Museum, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, the Burke Museum at the University of Washington and Maryhill Museum of Art. They are also found in numerous public spaces including parks, schools and cultural institutions throughout the region.

Exhibition Dates: April 29 – June 11, 2022