The 1905 Legacy Award is a grant from The Ford Family Foundation that honors outstanding Oregon visual artists whose lifelong careers and sustained excellence have significantly impacted the state's artistic community. Named after founder Hallie E. Ford's birth year, the award provides one unrestricted grant of $50,000 every five years.

Eligible artists must be Oregon residents for at least ten years, actively producing new work, and have demonstrated 20 or more years of serious professional participation in their medium. Artists are considered by nomination only.

1905 Legacy Award | The Ford Family Foundation Founder Hallie E. Ford was an artist and visual arts advocate. The 1905 Legacy Award honors outstanding Oregon artists whose life-long career and sustained excellence has significantly impacted the artistic community of Oregon.

The Foundation grants one $50,000 unrestricted award every five years. Named in honor of Hallie E. Ford’s birth year, the 1905 Legacy Award in Visual Arts is a new and valuable component of the Foundation’s Visual Arts program, which is designed to accelerate an enhanced quality of work by established Oregon visual artists and to enrich Oregon’s visual arts ecology.

It is bestowed by nomination and reviewed by an anonymous panel of arts professionals. It joins the Hallie Ford Fellowship in the Visual Arts as an affirmation of the Foundation’s commitment to the individual artist at the core of our Visual Arts Program. Lillian Pitt (inaugural 1905 Legacy Awardee) making Raku fired clay mask, circa 1980s.

Courtesy of the artist. 1905 Legacy Awardee, Lillian Pitt. / Photo: Sam Gehrke Our inaugural awardee of the 1905 Legacy Award is Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs, Wasco, Yakama).

Pitt teaches that traditional art is not motif; it is responsibility. And her achievement is not simply that she has made powerful objects, but that she has insisted on an art world ample enough to hold Indigenous time: not as distant preface, but as ongoing present. The Story of Lillian Pitt Insights into the life and craft of the inaugural recipient of the 1905 Legacy Award in the Visual Arts.

“Lillian is one of those real artist people, total confidence and mirth, in joy and at ease with her imagination and physical being, both in and out of the studio. ” — Sara Siestreem, 2025 Hallie Ford Fellow and Lillian Pitt mentee Award selection, eligibility and funding details A jury of five arts professionals with roots in the Oregon and Pacific Northwest arts communities will be invited as a panel each Fellowship cycle.

Panelists will be peer artists, Hallie Ford Fellows, scholars, curators and similar professionals representing a range of expertise. They will each be invited to nominate two artists for consideration and will convene as a group to determine a collective recommendation to the Foundation of one awardee and one alternate, based on the eligibility criteria. The Foundation confirms eligibility compliance before awarding Fellowships.

Artists will be considered by nomination.

Eligible artists are individual Oregon visual artists actively producing new work who meet the following criteria: A practicing visual artist currently producing works of art in the fields of contemporary fine art and craft; A full-time resident of Oregon for at least ten years prior to the application deadline, provides legal proof of residency if awarded a fellowship, and maintains residence through the duration of the grant period; Provides evidence, through appropriate documentation, of 20 or more years of serious, active professional participation in their medium; Not enrolled in a degree-seeking program, either part-time or full-time, at the time of application or during the successive grant period; and Has not previously been named a 1905 Legacy Awardee.

(Previous Hallie Ford Fellows are eligible); Has inspired and elevated peers, students and/or audiences as a teacher, mentor, organizational leader and/or collaborator; recognized for excellence by regional peers, historians and curators as evidenced by honors/awards or community leadership positions, critical reviews and exhibition history.

The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, disability or religion. Fellowship funds are unrestricted and intended to assist with work and life expenses.

This includes, among other things, purchase of materials, production costs of artwork and to supplement living or travel costs during the year of exploration, conceptualization and creation of new work.

2025 Hallie Ford Fellows: Sara Siestreem, Derek Franklin, Vo Vo / Photos: Sam Gehrke Hallie Ford Fellowships in the Visual Arts The Foundation supports Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated sophisticated practice and significant potential with annual fellowships. The Hallie Ford Fellowships are the flagship of the Visual Arts Program.

We recognize that the work of the Fellows furthers the conversation of contemporary art in the 21st century. Up to three $35,000 awards are made each year.