2 - Days of Events: Native Perspectives On Lewis & Clark Shared At CWU/NW Native American Basketry Demonstration Workshop

September 21, 2005

Contact: Dr. Tracy Andrews (509-963-3220/fax 509-963-3215/e-mail: andrewst@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Join the discussion - Thursday, Oct. 6, 7:00 - 8:30pm! The Lewis and Clark expedition has been understood largely from the written journals kept by the explorers, their crew and official government records. But during their epic exploration of North America, the Corp of Discovery met and negotiated with dozens of Native American groups.

These encounters not only influenced the course of the expedition but continue to impact relationships between tribal peoples and the United States today. However, Native American perspectives on the Lewis and Clark expedition have rarely been accessible.

The significance of these Native contacts and negotiations with the explorers has only recently come to light and will be shared next month at Central Washington University.

On Thursday, Oct. 6, Patricia Courtney Gold, a nationally renowned Native American fiber artist and member of Oregon's Wasco Nation, and Dr. Castle McLaughlin, an anthropologist and associate curator of North American ethnography at the Harvard University Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, will discuss "Encounters With Lewis and Clark: Native Perspectives on the Explorers."

The Peabody Museum, which houses the only remaining Native American artifacts collected by the Corps of Discovery, assembled a team of scholars and indigenous consultants to study this collection. It includes some of the earliest Native American garments, weapons, pipes and baskets in the world.

"While these objects are icons of Native American art, they also are rich sources of information about traditional Native cultures and important resources for contemporary Native peoples," says Dr. Tracy Andrews, CWU anthropology professor and event organizer. "The analysis of those objects has resulted in new understandings about Lewis and Clark's relationships with the Native peoples they met, and about the nature of the expedition itself."

McLaughlin's presentation will focus on the museum project, which she directed, and how the objects preserve a record of the "voice" of the Native peoples who encountered the Lewis and Clark party.

Andrews goes on to say that Gold, a key participant in the Peabody project, will discuss "her profound relationship with a Wasco basket in the Lewis and Clark collection, and how that relationship helped inspire her quest to help preserve and promote the tradition of Columbia River fiber arts. Ms. Gold will emphasize the personal and cultural significance that historic museum objects hold in trust for Native peoples today."

Their presentation is slated for 7 p.m. in the CWU music building recital hall, and they will participate afterwards in a book signing for "Arts of Diplomacy," which details the analysis of the Peabody's Lewis and Clark Indian Collection. McLaughlin is the book's editor and Gold is a contributor.

Friday, OCT. 7th; 1:00 - 2:30pm, Grupe Center - NW NATIVE AMERICAN BASKETRY ASSN. DEMONSTRATION WORKSHOP

On Friday, Oct 7th, Gold, who also is a Founding member of the Northwest Native American Basketry Association, and other members of that organization, will present a weaving demonstration workshop at 1 p.m. in the CWU Grupe Center. The workshop participants are members of the Nez Perce Tribe of Lapwai, Idaho, Colville Confederated Tribes and Yakama Nation.

"Their weaving represents basketry styles traditional to Native groups in the Plateau region of central Washington and western Idaho, as well as innovative approaches they have developed," Andrews adds.

For more information about either of these free, public events, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call 509-963-3201 or (for the hearing impaired) TDD 509-963-2143.