Art Review - Shan Goshorn's "As Long as These Waters Run"

Artist  --- Shan Goshorn,  Eastern Band of Cherokee

Special Accomplishments: She mastered a Cherokee double weave pattern.

“So Long as These Waters Run”  -- 2012

Medium:  She uses a photograph of the Oconaluftee River in Cherokee, North Carolina and a map showing the original area of Cherokee land in comparison with the much-decreased area held at the point of the final land treaty.

Shan Goshorn, born in 1957, creates basket weavings using archival materials such as poems and treaties relating to her heritage as a Cherokee Indian.  The basket weaving called, “So Long as These Waters Run,” takes maps relating to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and shreds it. Goshorn, being one of 14 people alive today recognized as a master of the Cherokee double weave pattern, weaves the shredded document into a work of art that reclaims history for  new generations.

Creating baskets like her Cherokee ancestors did, is her way of reclaiming history and creating a legacy to pass on to new generations. I think Goshorn accomplished what she intended to do, because I’m learning about her to this very day. I like her art because she adds meaning under layers of enjoyable art. It makes me feel sad and defeated when I read the removal documents out loud. When I see them woven into a basket - it is a peaceful feeling for me.