Carrie Bethel

{{Short description|Mono Lake Paiute – Kucadikadi (Northern Paiute) basketmaker (1898–1974)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Carrie Bethel

| image = Carrie Bethel.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Bethel {{circa|1929}}

| birth_name = Carrie McGowan Bethel

| birth_date = July 4, 1898

| birth_place = Lee Vining, California

| death_date = February 24, 1974

| death_place = Lee Vining, California

| nationality = Kucadikadi

| field = Basket weaving

| training =

| movement =

| works =

| patrons =

| influenced by =

| influenced =

| awards = 1926 Yosemite Field Days competition

| elected =

| website =

| spouse = Harry Bethel

}}

Carrie McGowan Bethel (1898{{ndash}}1974) was a Mono Lake Paiute – Kucadikadi (Northern Paiute)Dalrymple, 3 basketmaker associated with Yosemite National Park. She was born Carrie McGowan in Lee Vining, California on July 4, 1898,{{Cite book |title=St. James guide to native North American artists |date=1998 |publisher=St. James Press |isbn=978-1-55862-221-0 |editor-last=Matuz |editor-first=Roger |location=Detroit, MI.}} and began making baskets at age twelve. She participated in basket-making competitions in the Yosemite Indian Field Days in 1926 and 1929, and June Lake. She gave basket weaving demonstrations at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition,{{cite book|last=Trainer|first=Laureen|title=Yosemite: Art of an American Icon|editor=Amy Scott|publisher=Autry National Center and University of California Press|location=Los Angeles and Berkeley|year=2006|pages=[https://archive.org/details/yosemiteartofame0000unse/page/194 194]|isbn=0-520-24922-4|url=https://archive.org/details/yosemiteartofame0000unse/page/194}} as a cultural demonstrator for the Indian Exhibition.{{Cite web |title=Autry's Collections Online – |url=https://collections.theautry.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=PE59557;type=701 |access-date=2025-03-03 |website=collections.theautry.org}}

She worked several different jobs throughout her life, including making food for road crews and working as a laundress in Tioga Lodge in order to supplement the income given from selling her baskets at trading posts near San Francisco.

Bethel was one of a group of Mono-Paiute women who "became known for their exceedingly fine, visually stunning and complex polychrome baskets."{{cite book|last=Bibby|first=Brian|title=Yosemite: Art of an American Icon|editor=Amy Scott|publisher=Autry National Center and University of California Press|location=Los Angeles and Berkeley|year=2006|pages=[https://archive.org/details/yosemiteartofame0000unse/page/97 97–101]|chapter=Native American Art of the Yosemite Region|isbn=0-520-24922-4|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/yosemiteartofame0000unse/page/97}} Other basket weaving artists in this group included Nellie Charlie and Lucy Telles. Her sister, Minnie Mike, was also a basket weaver.{{Cite journal |date=Winter 1980 |title=The Pacific Historian |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28380762 |journal=The Pacific Hitorian |publisher=Scholarly Commons |volume=24 |issue=4}}

Bethel died in Lee Vining, California on February 24, 1974.