Pat Courtney Gold Explained

Pat Courtney Gold
Birth Date:22 January 1939
Birth Place:Warm Springs Reservation, Oregon, U.S.
Alma Mater:Whitman College
Known For:Basket weaving

Pat Courtney Gold (January 22, 1939 – July 11, 2022)[1] was a Wasco Native fiber artist and basket weaver from the Columbia River area of Oregon. She graduated with a BA in mathematics and physics from Whitman College and worked as a mathematician-computer specialist before beginning her career in basket weaving.[2] Gold harvested traditional plant fibers to use in her work, including dogbane, cattail, sedge grass, red cedar bark and tree roots.[3] Her pieces often reflected the natural world along the Columbia River, mixing traditional motifs such as condors and sturgeon with contemporary elements like airplanes. Gold also became an environmental and cultural educator, helping to spread knowledge of her ancestral heritage and basketry skills.[4]

Gold's art is exhibited in museums around the world, including the High Desert Museum,[5] Royal British Columbia Museum, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University[6] and Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.[7] [8]

She was featured in a 2007 episode of the PBS series Craft in America.[9]

Personal life

Gold was born and raised on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon.[10] Her mother was an accomplished beadworker, and they would visit local art museums where their ancestors' baskets were on display. She graduated from Madras High School in 1957.[11]

As a child, Gold did not see anyone around her using traditional weaving techniques and had no idea that would one day become her career. Gold worked as a mathematician for nearly 17 years before she decided to change course and focus on reviving the culture and art of her people. She married a Portland State University mathematics professor, Phillip Gold.[12] The couple lived in Scappoose, Oregon.[13]

In 1991, through the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Gold began to study the making of "sally bags," flexible cylindrical baskets created by Wasco-Wishram people for gathering roots and medicines, as well as nuts, seeds and mushrooms.[14] Gold diagrammed historical basket designs and learned about the stories they told, encompassing the symbolism of fishing nets, petroglyphs and other ancestral scenes. She learned the full turn twining technique used to weave the bags and has since become one of the foremost experts and teachers keeping this style alive. Gold was a co-founder in 1995 of the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association.[15] [16]

Published works

Awards and honors

Gold received an Oregon Governor's Arts Award in 2001.[17] She earned a Community Spirit Award in 2003 and Cultural Capital Fellowship in 2004 from the First People's Fund.[18] She was a recipient of a 2007 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: In Memoriam: Pat Courtney Gold . Poon . Elysia . December 1, 2022 . sarweb.org . School for Advanced Research . January 14, 2023.
  2. Web site: Entwined with Life: Native American Basketry – Plateau Weavers – Burke Museum. www.burkemuseum.org. 2018-10-11.
  3. Web site: Pat Courtney Gold. . n.d. . Craft in America. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20221128155015/https://www.craftinamerica.org/artist/pat-courtney-gold/ . November 28, 2022 . January 14, 2023.
  4. News: Pat Courtney Gold: Wasco sally bag weaver . . n.d. . www.arts.gov . National Endowment for the Arts . January 12, 2021.
  5. News: Our Collections – High Desert Museum. High Desert Museum. 2018-10-11. en-US.
  6. Web site: Pat Courtney Gold Peabody Museum. www.peabody.harvard.edu. en. 2018-10-11.
  7. Web site: The Language of Native American Baskets from the Weavers’ View – view_pat. americanindian.si.edu. en. 2018-10-11.
  8. Book: American folk art : a regional reference. Kristin G. Congdon. 2011. ABC-CLIO. Hallmark, Kara Kelley.. 9780313349379. Santa Barbara. 782906071.
  9. Web site: Memory . https://web.archive.org/web/20141120035622/http://www.craftinamerica.org/episodes/memory/ . November 20, 2014 . dead . Craft in America. en-US. January 14, 2023.
  10. Web site: Artist biography . https://web.archive.org/web/20181011214737/http://www.patcourtneygold.com/artist_bio.htm . October 11, 2018 . dead . . 2018 . www.patcourtneygold.com . January 14, 2023.
  11. News: Matheny . Susan . September 26, 2018 . MHS honors distinguished alumni . Madras Pioneer . Madras, Oregon.
  12. Web site: Phillip Gold: Faculty Emeritus (MTH) . Faculty & Staff Profiles . Portland State University . 4 May 2024.
  13. News: Row . D.K. . Another award in Gold's Native basket . 4 May 2024 . OregonLive . The Oregonian . July 1, 2007.
  14. Web site: Wasco-Style Sally Bags. oregonhistoryproject.org. 2020-04-17.
  15. Web site: Hartlerode . Emily West . In Memoriam: Pat Courtney Gold (1939-2022) . Oregon Folklife Network Blog: Rooted in Tradition . Oregon Folklife Network . 4 May 2024.
  16. Web site: NNABA: Our Mission . Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association . 4 May 2024.
  17. News: . Four Oregonians Recognized for Advancing Arts, Culture . The Columbian . Vancouver, Washington . March 16, 2001 . Clark County region section, C7.
  18. Web site: Pat Courtney Gold. First Peoples Fund. en-US. 2020-04-17.