AFA Summer 2019

Summer 92 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com Figs. 6a, 6b: Yuppie Indian Couple, basket, Pat Courtney Gold (b. 1939), 2003. Acrylic yarn, Hungarian hemp. Twining. 9 x 7 inches. Lent by the artist (RRR.31). Gold revived the lost practices of Wasco basket making by studying traditional baskets and painstakingly transcribing their designs onto graph paper. This basket features a couple in two guises: on one side, they appear “Indian” according to the traditional iconography of native life; on the other, they flaunt the urban style they acquired after leaving the reservation, obtaining a college education, and accepting good paying jobs. The pairs are linked by a design that juxtaposes a historic Californian condor with a modern airplane, reinforcing Gold’s examination of the many elements, both traditional and contemporary, Native and non- Native, that fashion Indian identity.