Artists & Communities Host Site: Crow's Shadow Institute
48004 St. Andrew's Road
Pendleton, OR 97801

Millennium Artist:
Pat Courtney Gold
Craftsperson
Oregon
E-mail: patcourtneygold@hotmail.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Each Artists & Communities residency project is as unique as its community setting, because each has been designed to express the needs and desires of the local participants. Building on her extensive background in researching and communicating about indigenous American cultures, artist Pat Courtney Gold worked with Oregon's Crow's Shadow Institute to create a residency experience focusing on generating a greater appreciation of the heritage and traditions of the Plateau Nation people. Courtney Gold's residency began in August 2000 and concluded in October.

Using "culture" in the first instance to define community meant that Courtney Gold's Artists & Communities residency activities engaged members of the Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce, and Wasco tribal groups. It also examined traditions transcending geo-political boundaries to include Oregon and Washington east of the Cascade Mountains, northern Idaho, western Montana, and southern British Columbia. Because in Plateau culture women are the keepers of tradition, all of the residency participants were female; the overall project was designed to be as inclusive as possible, accommodating participants' many family and community commitments. Individuals each kept a journal, and this record of their experiences - sketches, reflections, photos, quotes - became the foundation for the new work created during the residency.

Over the course of three months, 20 people, aged from 10 to 70, were involved in researching, documenting, and rediscovering aspects of their rich heritage. Courtney Gold introduced many to museum procedures for collecting, storing, and accessing cultural artifacts through visits to the Tsamuststlik Cultural Center in Pendleton, Oregon; Maryhill Museum in Goldendale, Washington; Yakima Valley Museum in Yakima, Washington; the Yakama Nation Cultural Center in Toppenish, Washington; and the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon. A number of participants identified exhibits representing their families, enforcing the idea that they were the contemporary ambassadors for an ancient but vital culture.

Tribal elders were another living resource realized throughout the residency, particularly in teaching about the uses of plants indigenous to the region. Field trips familiarized participants with plant habitats, harvesting and processing, and traditional weaving techniques central to Plateau life.

Using the knowledge and skills developed through residency activities, participants worked with Pat Courtney Gold to create a contemporary weaving using traditional fibers and twining techniques. They also created a mixed media mural that includes a replica of a traditional Time Ball - hand-twined dogbane cordage using knots and beads to depict the passage of time. Titled "Past, Present, Future," the work represents Plateau history.

Together with participants' journals, these new works symbolize a process of capturing and communicating a heritage in danger of being lost, ensuring it continues to live within families and the community as a whole.

Millennium Artist Pat Courtney Gold feels that her "strength is working with communities and appreciating the diversity within that community." Through her residency work, the artist and community participants "look to the past as stepping stones to the future…..I focus on raising the self-esteem of individuals….we all work as a supportive group." Courtney Gold believes that, "working together creates bonds among age groups, skill levels, and strengths. This is a great reward for self-esteem."

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Pat Courtney-Gold is a master basket-weaver and educator whose workshops in traditional Native American twined basket weaving have been presented under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, the Oregon Arts Commission, National Museum of American Indians, and New Zealand Maori Art Symposium.