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Louise Goings |
| Louise Goings, basketmaker, was born in 1947 and
grew up in the Birdtown Community.
The following biography from The Cherokee Artist Directory, 2001, Cherokee, North Carolina by Barbara Duncan, Freeman Owle, Amy Davis and Tess Thraves, published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council and the Cultural Resources Division of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is used with permission from the editors. |
| "Louise Goings makes Cherokee white oak baskets.
She begins by searching out a white oak tree, which she transfers into a
beautiful, sturdy basket. Often, she gathers her own materials -
using bloodroot, the green leaves of walnut trees, and hulls from nut -
to dye her oak splints before weaving. She can discuss this
process and demonstrate basketweaving. Louise Goings was born in 1947 and grew up on Goose Creek in the Birdtown Community. She attended Birdtown Day School until sixth grade, and then Cherokee High School. She has worked for twenty-eight years at Cherokee Elementary School as a teaching assistant. When she was ten years old, Louise learned to make a few baskets by watching her mother, Emma Taylor. These she sold for pocket money. After the birth of her son Eddie, she began to make baskets in earnest and to travel - first with her mother, and then on her own - to demonstrate basketry. A member of the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual since the late 1960s, Louise Goings has demonstrated basketry with her mother at the Festival of American Folklife at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian. She and her husband George returned to Washington, D.C., in 1992 for President Clinton's inaugural celebration honoring the craftspeople of the South. She has demonstrated basket making in many schools, at the Mountain Heritage Day festival, and in hands-on workshops for children at Western Carolina University. Louise Goings enjoys demonstrating basketry for people of all ages, and will bring her own materials. If a hands-on workshop is desired, children need to be about 10 years old to be able to actually weave a basket. Although Louise Goings is available year-round, she has the most time to travel during summer months when school is not in session. Call to determine her fee." Louise Goings |
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