Artist

Lillian Elliott

born Detroit, MI 1930-died Berkeley, CA 1994
Born
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Died
Berkeley, California, United States
Biography

Lillian Elliott studied at the Detroit Institute of Arts and Cranbrook Academy of Art, earning a master of fine arts degree in ceramics and painting in 1955. With her husband, she settled in northern California in the early 1960s, teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1966 to 1971. When her position was phased out, the artist turned to studio work and became an influential figure in San Francisco's fiber arts community. According to Pat Hickman, her longtime collaborator, Elliott began working with textiles in the 1960s, using the fibers as a painter uses color and line.  Eventually, she began creating baskets out of innovative materials such as cloth, bark, paper, twine, and zippers.

Works by this artist (4 items)

Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13
The Children
Date1950
ink and graphite on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.14, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.15, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Hasty B, 1970, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1979.155.1
Hasty B
Date1970
lithograph on paper
Not on view