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Mural brings life to museum storage container

CAROLINE LOBSINGER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 11 months AGO
by CAROLINE LOBSINGER
I grew up in the Tri-Cities, Wash., and have always loved to write. I attended the University of Washington, where I earned a double major in journalism and political science, with an area of emphasis in history. I am the fifth out of six kids — don't believe any of the stories that my siblings tell. To be able to tell others stories and take photos for a living is a dream come true — and I considered myself blessed to be a community journalist. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, hiking and spending time outdoors, genealogy, reading, and watching the UW Huskies and the Seattle Seahawks. I am a servant to my cat, Frankie, who yes, will eat anything and everything in sight … even wedding cookies. | July 25, 2021 1:00 AM

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SANDPOINT — In one corner, leaves and native plants fill the canvas. In other colorful flowers beckon bees that playfully swoop in.

While a bright spot of color that effortlessly fits into its surroundings at Lakeview Park, the mural created by local artist Savannah Pitts also disguises what used to be a generic 40-foot by 8-foot corrugated metal container purchased by the Bonner County History Museum to help address its storage needs.

When outfitted with shelves, the container will go a significant way toward organizing and housing appropriate items, Heather Upton, museum executive director, said.

Having more storage will allow the museum to continue organizing its collection – estimated at a million objects, give or take — so that they can ensure each item is appropriately archived, stored and catalogued.

"However, they're not the most attractive containers," Upton said. "But what I did was I looked at it as a canvas. And I thought, wouldn't it be fun to be able to solve some of our storage needs, but have this canvas that can help support a young, local artist."

So, one day while she was talking to contacts at the Pend Oreille Arts Council, Upton asked them if they knew of anyone who might be interested. They immediately turned and looked at Pitts, sitting on the floor, headphones on listening to music as she painted the arts council's door.

As they called her name, Pitts lowered the headphones. After hearing what the project entailed, she immediately said yes.

An initial consultation resulted in a rough sketch of natural flowers and plants to fit in with the nearby arboretum and landscape. Then Pitts went to work, freehanding plants, bees and more onto the blank canvas of the storage container.

With Pitt's murals, the storage container has become so much more, Upton said.

"[This] truly continued our mission of history creating community," she said. "And that Conex box no longer is serving just as a storage unit. It's also an art piece now."

For Pitts, the mural project allowed her to tap into what made it so special to grow up in the community.

"It was fun because it reminds me a lot of actually my childhood growing up in Sandpoint," she said. "A lot of the flowers I painted, I used to go look for in the woods and, you know, I'd always catch frogs and I have little bunnies that run around and walking through the arboretum reminds me a lot of like, where I used to play in the woods. And so we talked about that and it just kind of came together."

The challenge posed by such an unusual canvas didn't phase her, Pitts said.

"You can give me anything, you can give me a storage container, you can give old guitar, you could give me an old shoe," she said. "And the way that my brain works, [it] will immediately wrap around it and start coming up with a million ideas of what I could do on it."

The conversation with Upton gave direction — a floral motif with native plants to fit in with the nearby arboretum. But she said she also had the freedom to create the piece according to the vision in her head.

Once she was able to finally start painting — the project was delayed by the pandemic and then the weather — Pitts said it didn't take her long to complete the mural despite its size.

"It really only took two weeks to actually do the project once the weather quit arguing with me," she said.

Painting the mural posed numerous challenges, with each side slightly different than the others. Metal bars and hinges on one short end meant carefully lining up the plants and flowers to match the background behind them. Another side had deeper crevices and cricks, Pitts said.

"It definitely kept me on my toes and it was super fun," she added.

While the mural was done freehand with spray paints, Pitts said her favorite medium at the moment is with paint, often in black and white. A skilled photographer, Pitts also draws and said she aims to be a tattoo artist as well.

"I just I love all of it," she said. "I love painting. I love all of it. I don't care, whatever medium it is, I just love it. It's just … it's fun."

Pitts credits her grandmother, Frances Pitts, with recognizing her artist's soul and bringing painting into her life at a very young age. Pitts, now 25, would go visit her grandmother on the weekends and the pair would sketch, paint and draw.

"I mean, art is my whole life now and she is the person that you know, really showed me that, that got me into it and gave me my start," she said.

Another influence is Sandpoint High School art teacher Zabrielle Dillon, who pushed her into painting her first mural — a lion — in the graffiti alley in downtown Sandpoint.

Pitts said she resisted for the longest time, only agreeing when Dillon assigned her to paint in the alley during her independent study period.

"My grandma got me into it and Zabrielle really pushed me, you know, she really believed in me and she really wanted me to do this."

The encouragement and support of people in her life like her grandmother and Dillon have led to her place she never dreamed she would go or achieve things she never dreamed possible — from designing the artwork for a friend's clothing line to an Adidas art show in Denver.

The other key influence in her life was longtime friend and photographer Patrick Orton. Orton taught her about photography, encouraging and inspiring his young friend.

"But as I've grown, I've noticed that as much as he taught me about photography, he taught me 10 more times about life, and about pursuing what makes you happy," Pitts said. "To do what you love and working really hard to, you know, live a happy and loving life."

Orton also inspired Pitts to create the Lionheart Project, something that allows her to honor her mentor and to pass along the lessons he taught her as a teen.

"I wanted to, you know, travel around and make as many people feel as loved as he did. He was just a jar of sunshine that just radiated kindness and love," Pitt said. "And so the Lionheart Project, and everything I do, really, is to try to keep that going. And he is 100%. I mean, a gigantic reason of why I am who I am and why I'm where I'm at."

The Lionheart Project is as much her identity as anything else, allowing her to share what Orton taught her, to pass along the lessons and joy and love that she gained from his friendship.

""It really is like my way of life of being kind and bringing happiness wherever I go, and making people feel appreciated," she said. "Whether it be making friends on an adventure, or painting a mural that brings people together to, you know, either admire it or come see it. It's, it's just kind of turned into, whatever I do."

In the short time they've been on the storage container, the murals have become a conversation piece, featuring in local Instagram posts and photos. For Pitts, the piece has been a way to share her art with her hometown and to thank all of those who have supported her on her journey.

"I just would love to build a little creative space for myself where, you know, I'm getting to paint murals in my hometown, whether it be for the city or for friends," she said. "I would love to be able to tattoo and, you know, put meaningful pieces on people that they will hopefully love and cherish for the rest of their life. And I guess, I don't know, I just I'm ready to build my little nest in Sandpoint, and see how much art I can do."

The project was sponsored by Bleeding Hearts Tattoo Emporium, Apex Construction Services, Drybox, and Triple A Sweetwater Drilling & Pump.

photo

(Photo courtesy SAVANNAH HUBBARD/SAVANNAH PITTS)

One of the sides of a mural painted by Savannah Pitts on a 40-foot by 8-foot storage container at the Bonner County History Museum.

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