Several one-of-a-kind art auction items will be available in our silent auction during our First Annual Gala and Salmon Dinner on Friday evening June 22, 2012. Artists include internationally renowned Warm Springs artist, Lillian Pitt, who has gifted Wisdom with a 1/1 print of Shadow Spirit and Condors, and will also be attending our Salmon Dinner. This is truly a one of a kind. Lillian Pitt has just received the 2012 Museum at Warm Springs Twanat Award. She is also recipient of numerous other awards including the Oregon Governor’s Art Award (1990) and the High Desert Museum’s Earle A. Chiles Award for Lifetime Achievement when she was the first native person to be so honored.
Last weekend, at the Museum at Warm Springs award ceremony, she was introduced by Rebecca Dobkins from Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem: “Lillian’s interpretation of the petroglyph She Who Watches has become one of our region’s signature images. Through her use of this and other petroglyph symbols, Lillian has helped to bring the indigenous iconography of the Columbia River to the public eye and affirm the ancient as well as contemporary indigenous presence in our region. Lillian says that her work honors the stories and art of her ancestors, and in doing so she follows in their footsteps. In her lifetime of working to understand her own heritage and to educate others about it, Lillian helps this heritage live and thrive.
We cordially invite Portland’s increasingly diverse community to join us for a special evening of Native American wisdom, cultural arts, and silent auction that includes a trip for two to Cancun, Mexico, several original one-of-a-kind Native American art pieces; two hours of garden design; and a catered dinner party for eight.
Click here to purchase your tickets online so you don’t miss this special summer solstice evening event. There are a few gold tickets left that will get you in the door early and provide you with exclusive access to select auction items.
Guest speaker is Terry Cross (Seneca), developer, founder and Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association. In June 2011, Terry received the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps’ “Embracing the Legacy” award at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. In 2009, Terry received the Civic Engagement Award for Excellence in Community-Based Research from Portland State University. He is the author of Heritage and Helping, an 11-manual curriculum for tribal child welfare staff. He is also the author of the Positive Indian Parenting curriculum, as well as Cross-Cultural Skills in Indian Child Welfare. He co-authored Toward a Culturally Competent System of Care and Reclaiming Customary Adoption.
For the past year, Terry has been working with Wisdom strengthening its capacity to serve the community with its projects: Discovering Our Story Research Project; Northwest Indian Storytellers Festival, Emerging Storytellers Workshop and Apprenticeship Project; Wisdom of the Elders Radio Program: Series Four featuring sustainability responses of 8 Northwest Tribes in response to unprecedented climate change; Indigenous Women in Science Network; and Wisdom Community Gardens trainings and harvest celebrations. Funding has been provided by United Way of the Columbia Willamette.
We invite you to join us at our celebration and get acquainted with our team and board. Your support for the work of Wisdom of the Elders makes all of these projects possible. Two sponsorship opportunities still remain. You may contact Juliette Simmons for more info at (503) 775-4014.