(Above: Ancient Spirits with Salmon Gill is a glass vessel with cutouts that Native American artist Lillian Gill created in conjunction with artist Daniel Friday; photo by Randi Bjornstad)

By Randi Bjornstad

Lillian Pitt’s early life didn’t hint of her future as an accomplished and acclaimed Native American artist, but somehow fate intervened, and that is what she became.

The proof of her spirit and skill is on display at the White Lotus Gallery in a show called Gifts From My Ancestors. A reception for the artist will take place from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19.

“I lived on the Warm Springs Reservation until fifth grade, when my family moved to Madras,” Pitt said, sitting among her creations at the gallery the day before the opening. “I wanted to get out of Madras — it was not a good atmosphere because my family was the only minority family there — so I left in 1961, the day after high school graduation, and went to Portland.”

Both her parents had suffered the indignities and loss of culture that came with being taken away from their families and raised in Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools.

Kimsah, Stick Indian, is a mask honoring Lillian Pitt’s sister, whose Native American name was Kimsah; stick Indians were believed to be able to guide a good person to safety if lost, or guide a bad person deeper into the forest

“They weren’t allowed to speak their native language, and their homes and culture were denied to them,” Pitt said. “They had to speak English and wear uniforms. They were stripped of their language, their culture,and their homes — it was hard. They were both a little bitter.”

During her childhood, her mother made efforts to regain some semblance of her Native American roots, but her father did not.

“It was especially hard for my mom — she remained a traditional Native American woman, devoted to family and not wishing to draw attention to herself,” Pitt recalled. “My dad was different — he put emphasis on education and fitting into the larger culture.”

When she escaped to Portland, Pitt went to beauty school “on a whim” and discovered it was fun. Fun is a word she uses a lot about life, work, and art. “I loved it — I eventually bought a salon, and then I became an instructor in hair styling.”

But doing hair all day every day is hard on the back, and she eventually underwent surgery three times as a result.  Realizing that returning to the salon was not an option, she enrolled at Mount Hood Community College.

“I thought about dental hygiene, but they said it wouldn’t work with my history of back problems,” Pitt said. “I considered all thee other therapeutic options in health-related fields, and I was told the same thing. Finally, mental health was the only choice left, so I enrolled in that, and it was really amazing.”

She learned how to interview, how to conduct group therapy, studied anatomy and physiology, “and I had never realized that education should be so much fun,” but fate still had one surprise in store for her.

“One of my fellow students always dressed very sharply on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but on Thursday she was always a mess,” Pitt remembered with a laugh. “So one day I asked her why, and she said it was because she was taking a ceramics class and I should try it. So I did, and it was love at first sight — I have done it ever since. I was a tabula rasa, with no knowledge, no experience, no background in business.”

Lillian Pitt has created a series of ceramic-and-bead bags that evoke Native American themes; this one is called Sturgeon and Beaded Bag Design; photo by Randi Bjornstad

Another lucky break came when she happened upon R.C. Gorman, a renowned Navajo artist who had a show in a Portland gallery. Pitt went to see the show and showed Gorman “bad Polaroid” images of some of the masks she had been creating.

“He started asking me terribly hard questions, like what do you do, what do you make, and do you sell these,” she said. “All I had was pictures of five pieces — all unfinished — and he asked me how much I wanted for them. I said $100, $100, $110, $100, $100, and he asked me why one was $10 more. I told him because I liked it best.”

Gorman said he would buy two of her pieces and said she should finish them and he would pay her.

“I remembered that my dad always said to get everything in writing, so I said I thought he should write it down, so he did,” Pitt said. “Then he introduced me to the owner of the gallery, who said he would be interested in seeing more of my work.”

That was the beginning of a 25-year friendship with Gorman, who Pitt learned made a generous habit of promoting promising young Native American artists among his contacts.

“He invited me to parties, to lunch, he introduced me to many people, including a lady from Germany who had a gallery,” Pitt said. “When I first finished the pieces he bought from me, I didn’t know anything about packing artwork, so when it got to him it was rather banged up. When I later went to see him in Taos, in New Mexico where he lived, he had one of my masks up on the wall. It was pretty beat up, and I told him I would fix it, but he said no, he liked the way it looked — it looked old and real.”

Right then, Pitt decided that if she ever reached any level of fame as an artist, she would be as gracious and generous as R.C. Gorman, which she has done through teaching and mentoring up-and-coming Native American artists.

While ceramic masks formed the beginning of her art and still hold their sway, Pitt also has branched out, into luminous lead crystal spirit figures, prints, and bronze versions of her ceramics.

Sweat Lodge is one of Lillian Pitt’s monoprints; she has called her drawings “more scratchings than drawings”

She also has created drawings, but she doesn’t consider them her forté.

“I don’t really draw, I mostly do scratching,” she said. Once, when fellow Oregonian and well-known Native American artist Rick Bartow saw her drawings, “He offered to teach me a class, and I said no,” Pitt recalled. “He said, okay, I will just let you alone.”

White Lotus gallery owner H.P. Lin said she’s delighted to host Pitt’s new show.

“I had known her work for awhile, and I had a friend who collected Lillian’s masks, and she often mentioned both Lillian and Rick Bartow to me,” Lin aid. “When my friend died, she was trying to find a caretaker for her collection, and she had a lot of Lillian’s pieces, so I reached out to Lillian to see if we could do a show. We actually did not meet personally until early this year.”

When it came time to curate the show, Lin really didn’t.

“Whatever she wanted to show, we wanted to show,” she said. “We are just so honored to have her work here.”

For her part, Pitt is just as excited. “I haven’t been so happy with a gallery in a long time,” she said. “I thought this would be the perfect space to show some of my newer work.”

The pieces include ceramic wall hangings that evoke the 12,000-year-old Wasco, Yakama, and Warm Springs people from which she descends, as well as contemporary glass vases, lead crystal spirit figures, bronze masks, jewelry, prints, even drawings.

Her work has been shown throughout the United States and internationally. She also has created public art installations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her work has been recognized by the Oregon Arts Commission for its “significant contributions to the growth and development of the cultural life of Oregon.”

Gifts From My Ancestors

When: Through Dec. 7; artist reception 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19

Where: White Lotus Gallery

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Information: 541-345-3276 or wlotus.com