Lillian Pitt Public Artwork: Land Overlook at Land Bridge

The Land Bridge in Vancouver, WA on the Columbia River features three overlooks across spectacular vistas of land, river, and ocean. The site was built to honor the Chinookan people, who lived and traded along the Columbia River. Artwork at these overlooks honor the traditions of these people and tell the story of river, land and people along.

At the Land Overlook, “Spirit Baskets” by Lillian Pitt, feature figures inspired by Columbia River petroglyphs. The words for River, Land, and People appear in nine native languages on stainless steel panels “The images in this section are all cut out of the metal. We had to be really careful in how the metal was fabricated and finished so that little kids wouldn’t put their fingers in the holes and cut themselves. But we wanted the images to be cut out because the shadows that they throw are just as important as the images themselves. I think of them as ‘Shadow Spirits.’”

Lillian Pitt is a Pacific Northwest Native American artist. She was born and raised on the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon and her ancestors lived in and near the Columbia River Gorge for over 10,000 years. The focus of her work is on creating contemporary fine art pieces that delight today’s art lovers, and at the same time, honor the history and legends of her people.

For more information about Lillian Pitt’s work and a list of her other public art pieces to view in the area, please visit her public art archive.