Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee) – A Great Mentor

I met Shan Goshorn in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early 1990s. Shan attended an event at the University of Tulsa for the Native American Student Association. We struck up a friendship, and she helped me throughout college. Thinking back on my college career, Shan was one of the people who believed in me and pushed me to succeed. One of the things I remember most from those years was her work on Native American stereotypes and racism.We have kept in touch over the years, and I recently caught up with her and wanted to find out more about her and her life as a successful artist and advocate.

One of Shan’s biggest accomplishments includes having her work commissioned by and later collected by the Smithsonian Institution. Despite living in Oklahoma, she has kept strong ties to her tribe in North Carolina. Shan is proud of being able to support herself exclusively with her artwork for over 25 years. She also says that successfully raising children and being married for 25 years is another large accomplishment in her life. She is proud of being able to inspire people with her artwork by working with companies to create large commissioned art pieces.

Lack of time is one of the Shan’s most difficult challenges in her life. There is just not enough time in the day. Shan works hard on deadlines, researching, raising her family, sometimes at the expense of building memories with her family. One of the ways she manages time is by keeping a strict regimen in her schedule. She attributes her success to being organized and disciplined, and says, “I’ve never considered myself to be one of the best artists that I hang out with, but if I say I’m going to do it, then I do it.”

One of the things I sometimes struggle with is how to incorporate my culture into my everyday life, so I asked Shan how she does it. Shan is very inspired by traditional teaching of her tribe and other tribes across the US. One of her goals is to bring education and awareness about issues Indian people face today, and it inspires her.

“We are not extinct and are a force to be reckoned with in today’s world. We are a strong people.” -Shan Goshorn

When discussing her work on racism, Shan says she has mellowed out since the early 1990s. She wants to get beyond the A-B-Cs of racism and says, “I want to move on to the H-I-J or M-N-O.” Shan has worked with the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism and is inspired by the more peaceful ways to approach people about racism vs. butting heads.

Recently Shan has been volunteering on what she describes as a ‘calling’ to heal birds in her own home. As a child, she successfully healed birds and helped them move on. Not one to do something small-scale, Shan has actually helped to form a local non-profit Audubon organization, called Songbirds In Need Group – In Tulsa. Shan says working with birds keeps her really grounded.

Shan says, “The birds are getting into my work.” She has been working on a series called “Displacement” which looks at the result of invasive species and how they are having an impact on the environment. She studies invasive species to find out what they’ve done and looks for ways we can cohabitate. She likens the invasive species to the colonization of America, and uses the series as another way to open dialogue about race issues.

Shan has been trying to gather bird stories from tribes, and to be able to remember stories that she’s heard. She talked about behavior of birds 500 and 100 years ago and how they have the same kinds of behavior today. Shan finds it interesting how stories from different tribes about the same bird, like the king fisher, match up.

“Birds are barometers of the health of our world. Birds are a reflection of working with mother earth.” -Shan Goshorn

Shan describes how miners use canary birds to check if areas are safe. If they see dead canary birds, they know they have to get out of that part of the mine. Although she described it as a calling, she would like to step back a little because taking care of birds is very time consuming and intense.

Shan is living proof that you can have a successful career and family. I asked Shan what advice she might have on building a career and raising a family.

Career:  Go for excellence. Aspire to be the best that you can. If you can find excellence in your work, the money will follow. Choose something you have a passion about and be the best you can be and you will find your place.

Family: I don’t think we are meant to avoid challenges. Cars break down. You get sick. That’s the thing, that is life. It is how we handle obstacles that show who we are.

“We are not meant to have a challenge-free life. Challenge and obstacles are how we grow.” -Shan Goshorn

Shan has been a great mentor to me and I am sure to others also. Her artwork is amazing and transcending in its meaning. She is truly a beautiful person, inside and out. Shan is an Indian woman who is always cognizant of current Native American issues and how she can start a dialogue to solve them.

Enaa baasee’ Shan!

ABOUT SHAN GOSHORN

Artist Shan Goshorn (Eastern Band Cherokee) has lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma since 1981. Shan Goshorn is a self-employed artist conducting her work through her business, the Shan Goshorn Studio. Her work is exhibited extensively in the US and in Canada and has won prestigious awards in major competitions. Goshorn’s painted photographs have toured with the Fratelli Alinari “Go West” collection, and have been exhibited in venues in England, France, China and South Africa. In 1992, her tribe awarded her with an honorarium for the work she was doing to truthfully represent the Eastern Band. In 2001, the Indian Affairs Commission of Tulsa honored her with the Moscelyn Larkin Cultural Achievement Award for her artwork that challenges the stereotypes that persist regarding Indian people. She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Indian Heritage Center (Tulsa) as the first and second vice chair; NIIPA (Native Indian/Innuit Photographer’s Association) in Canada; The Second Circle Board of the National Native Arts Network ATLATL; and was appointed by the mayor to serve on the board of the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission and the Arts Commission of Tulsa.