Folk Arts - Master Artist - Pat Wright

Pat Wright. Photo by Fritz Dent.

The African-American culture is an oral one, says Pastor Patrinell Wright. Children learn it from their parents, teachers and elders. Pat learned it from her mother, a public school instructor, and her father, a Pastor of one of the local churches in Carthage, Texas. After years of singing, playing the piano, and leading the world acclaimed Total Experience Gospel Choir, Pat still doe not know how to read music. The learning, and the teaching, is still oral.

The members of her choir travel with Pat all over the world, sharing their voices, providing hands-on education and teaching them more about their roots. Wherever it goes, the Total Experience Gospel Choir has left its mark. Audience members clap and sing and children stand on pews swaying to the beat.

Wright received Washington State's highest artistic honor in 1991 as the recipient of a Governor's Heritage Award.

In 1998 Pat was awarded a Folk Arts Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the preservation of African-American culture.