‘Lillian Pitt: Art, Memory, Home’ exhibition to open at The Museum at Warm Springs
“Lillian Pitt: Art, Memory, Home,” a major exhibition celebrating the life, work and artistic legacy of acclaimed Native artist Lillian Pitt, will open Thursday, May 21 at The Museum at Warm Springs.
The exhibition, curated by Angela Anne Smith (Warm Springs, Yakama, Nez Perce, Diné), will remain on view through Oct. 10, 2026. Rebecca Dobkins, curator of Native American art at The Hallie Ford Museum of Art and professor emeritus of anthropology at Willamette University, serves as contributing curator.
An opening reception will take place May 21 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Museum at Warm Springs, located at 2189 U.S. Highway 26 in Warm Springs. The event is open to Museum members and the public.
The reception is sponsored by The Ford Family Foundation in recognition of Pitt receiving the Inaugural 1905 Legacy Award in the Visual Arts.
Speakers at the reception will include Ford Family Foundation President and CEO Kara Inae Carlisle; Indigenous scholar, artist and traditional healer Phillip Cash Cash (niimíipuu, weyíiletpuu); Alfred “Bud” Lane III, vice chairman of The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; and Pitt herself.
Pitt, a Pacific Northwest Native artist whose ancestral roots trace to the Columbia River Gorge and surrounding tributaries, is widely recognized for creating contemporary works that honor Indigenous history, storytelling and cultural traditions while engaging modern audiences.
Her artwork is featured in private collections, galleries, museums and public spaces throughout the Pacific Northwest, including parks, schools and cultural institutions.
The exhibition also features works by several of Pitt’s longtime friends and fellow artists, including Rick Bartow, Gabrielle Belz, Joe Cantrell, Phillip Cash Cash, Joe Feddersen, June Grant, Harry Fonseca, Analee Fuentes, James Lavadour, Darcy Nicholas, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Gail Tremblay, Toma Villa, Colleen Waata-Urlich, Tina Wirihana and Elizabeth Woody.
Selected pieces are on loan from s’gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ (House of Welcome) at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington; The Hallie Ford Museum at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; and PDX CONTEMPORARY ART in Portland.
The exhibition explores six themes central to Pitt’s life and work: ancestry, “She Who Watches,” art and entrepreneurship, education, Pacific Rim Indigenous connections, and collaborations and public art.
“My Aunt Lillian Pitt held ground and broke ground in major art institutions and academic venues that had not previously shown contemporary works from thriving Indigenous artists of her generation,” said Elizabeth Woody, executive director of The Museum at Warm Springs. “We are so honored at The Museum at Warm Springs to be hosting this prestigious, major exhibition of Lillian’s art and the work of those who she called her kindred spirits.”
A 104-page fully illustrated exhibition catalog edited by Anne Keala Kelly and published by The Museum at Warm Springs will be available for purchase for $40. Visitors attending the exhibition between May 21 and Oct. 10 will be able to purchase the catalog for $30, with Museum members receiving an additional 10% discount.
The catalog includes essays by Phillip Cash Cash, Rebecca Dobkins, Alfred “Bud” Lane III, Anne Keala Kelly, Donald J. Stastny and Elizabeth Woody. Most photographs featured in the publication were taken by Dennis Maxwell, with additional photography by Joe Cantrell. The catalog was designed by DeeAnn Glazier of XPress Printing, Inc. in Sisters, Oregon.
Two commemorative 18-by-12-inch color posters also will be available for purchase in the Museum Gift Shop for $10.
In addition, selected artworks by Pitt and several featured artists will be available for sale during the exhibition, with 20% of proceeds benefiting The Museum at Warm Springs.
“This will be a rare opportunity to buy artwork by this amazing collection of artists and support The Museum at Warm Springs at the same time,” Woody said.
