Louise Goings (Eastern Band Cherokee) of the Wild Potato Clan is a highly respected basket weaver in the white oak, maple, honeysuckle and river cane forms. At the age of nine, she watched her mother, the famed weaver Emma Taylor, and quickly learned to master the various weaving forms as well. Goings has demonstrated basketry with her mother at the Festival of American Folk-life at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian. Her baskets have won prizes at the Cherokee Fall Festival, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and elsewhere. Goings was also awarded the First Peoples Fund Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award for her artwork and community service. She has demonstrated basket making in many schools, the Mountain Heritage Day festival, the Cherokee Voices Festival, Warren Wilson College, the National Museum of the American Indian, and in hands-on workshops for students at Western Carolina University. Goings feels a strong connection between weaving her work and maintaining Cherokee values; therefore, she actively mentors several fledgling weavers in her community. She currently lives in the Birdtown Community of Cherokee, NC.
Louise Goings
