Contemporary Native American Artists Highlighted in February Tour for the Blind

The Portland Art Museum’s February 21 tour for the blind explores works by three Native American artists from the Columbia River region – Lillian Pitt, Joe Feddersen, and Taila Ferrel Smith.    

Lillian Pitt, Wasco Totem. 
Wasco Totem is one of a series of ceramic and wood figures that portray animal, plant and human spirits which Pitt hopes will help her people “realign themselves with the wise and knowing ways of their ancestors.”  Raised at Warm Springs Reservation, Pitt’s Wasco name, Wa’ka mu (which means “a stubborn root that won’t let go of the earth”) expresses her commitment to “the earth, the spirits of nature, legends, petroglyphs, animals and birds” of her native tradition. 


Joe Feddersen, Twined Basket and (if available) the glass sculpture, Roll CallFeddersen, a member of The Confederated Tribes of The Colville Reservation in central Washington State, uses Columbia plateau Native American imagery to comment on contemporary America.   These works feature human figures, some with the heads of totemic animals and birds, others topped with wide-screen TVs, cell-phone tower antennae and other 21^st century artifacts.   As we change our physical landscape, says the artist, so we change our culture and our artistic inspiration. 

Taila Ferrel Smith, Self Portrait.  Taila Ferrel-Smith, a painter of Klamath/Modoc descent, sees in her own face the trauma which her father experienced as a boarding school “survivor” and then passed on to her as the child of a survivor.  The artist, a student in PSU’s Masters of Fine Art program, uses the traditional vehicle of the painted portrait to explore identity issues specific to young Native Americans today. 

The tour begins at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, February 21.  Participants assemble at the museum’s main entrance, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland.  (Those requiring a ramp should come in at the Members Entrance on the north side of the building.)

The tour is free with museum membership.  Non-museum members who are blind pay $3 for museum admission and may bring in one helper at no charge.  Children 17 and under are free.  Seating is provided, and guide dogs are welcome.

Please let us know if you will attend the tour by calling and leaving a message at 503-276-4290.