Carol Gold

1937 - 2022

Carol Gold
August 30, 1937 - August 18, 2022
Carol Rosenstein Gold died surrounded by family and friends on August 18, 2022 after a mercifully short battle with dementia. She received wonderful care to the very end from the staff and owner of Paradise Elderly Residential Care of Marin.
Carol was raised on a dairy farm in Mill River, a small town in Western Massachusetts and was one of those lucky individuals who knew from day one what she needed to do with her life – and that was create art. It was at the farm where Carol learned how to milk cows, ride horses, drive tractors, shoot woodchucks and pull the occasional calf, who needed help during the birthing process. It was at the farm where she developed her deep love and appreciation of animals and their beauty, which would be carried into her artwork throughout her life.
While life at the farm and Carol's love of animals influenced her decision to attend Cornell University where she went to study pre-veterinary medicine, she quickly found herself in art classes. After meeting her husband to be , Warren Gold, at a square dance in the Berkshires, she moved to Boston, where she continued training in art at Boston University School of Fine Art, and the Museum School in Boston.
Carol and Warren started their family right away, which kept her from completely engulfing herself in her art. However, she was always drawing or working with clay while she was raising her young family. It was not until 1977 that she found her medium in sculpture, and ultimately bronze, where she spent the rest of her life beautifully capturing thoughts, emotions, and movement in static objects. While most of Carol's work involved stylized people, a horse or cow, would often find its way from her hands into her work to remind us all of her roots. It was important to Carol to be involved and control every detail of the process of making her art as she envisioned it, which is why she pursued additional training in casting and welding at the College of Marin in California and went on to build her own foundry with partner, Al Farrow.
Carol's work is enjoyed in homes and businesses around the world. Her works have also been installed as monuments in public spaces across the country, including the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, Whittier, California and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to name a few.
Her art is still exhibited and sold through galleries in Oregon, at Bronze Coast Gallery, Columbine Gallery in Loveland, Colorado, Peninsula Gallery in British Columbia, and CODA Galley in Palm Desert.
Carol first came to California in 1962 where she lived with her young family in Corte Madera. Quickly making friends she would keep for the rest of her life she knew immediately that she had found her true home: the easy access to nature, her daily source of inspiration and rejuvenation; the climate and the politics were a perfect fit. Except for a brief stint back in Boston, she managed to stay in Marin (Mill Valley, San Anselmo, and ultimately Fairfax) for the rest of her life.
While Carol did her best to inspire artistic tendencies in her four children with a seemingly never-ending series of art projects, the results of which are still displayed in family homes, none of her children inherited her talents. However, her love of nature and animals continue to have lasting impacts on each of her children.
Family and friends summarized their impressions of Carol with the following:
Julia (youngest daughter): my mother's love of granite, flowers, the light that dances in the trees, and the beauty of the mountains was instilled in me at a young age. On each of our countless hikes together we would identify the flowers around us and revel in their beauty. She encouraged – demanded - self-reliance. She encouraged us all to explore the world, never inhibiting our adventures. Our mother was tough, frank, independent, stubborn, and of course exceedingly intelligent and inquisitive. Her amazing ability to see spaces, enabled her to design my current home to have "a flow" for which I am so grateful. She cared deeply about justice throughout the world. She was my toughest Scrabble opponent and will be terribly missed each and every day.
Michael (youngest son): Our mother was fiercely independent (detect a theme?). Her politics were to the left of Bernie Sanders. She loved to hike, dance, and enjoy good food with good friends. She loved poetry, especially Pablo Neruda in Spanish, and Nietzsche. There was no one better to go wine tasting with.
Jen (oldest daughter): Our mother was independent, strong, and not afraid of speaking her mind. She loved hiking and seeing the wild-flowers, and animals. She captured the beauty and love of life and nature in her works of art. She lived her life with passion and love and encouraged her family to do the same.
Jim (brother): Carol's love of independence and art always inspired me. A memory of her riding a horse as a young teenager embodied that vision, her willingness to take things on her own, to work hard and to reach out with a spirit of strong creativity. As her lovely sculpture called Infinite Dance, on display in Pittsfield, MA has shown, when we discover where we are, raise our arms and dance!
Alice (sister): As the oldest sibling, Carol was a leader – strong, determined, talented in sports and a top student. Though sometimes an annoying mischievous prankster, her laughter was contagious, and she could be the kindest most generous person. Devotion to her art and her family was inspiring; her sculptor's hands wove a spell that opened up hearts.
Liza Goldblatt (friend since 1962): Carol's love of her family and extended family, nature, hiking, the arts, bronze sculpture, music, very progressive politics and social justice, as well as the importance of being independent were great models for women and especially artists of all kinds. Her joie de vive, her graceful, and unique sculptures and delightful laughter brought joy and pleasure to many. We played music together, hiked together and ranted about politics often. I shall miss her long friendship deeply.
Zoran (Levi) Simic (long-time friend): A contemporary artist is a world traveler, with at least two fake passports. Carol didn't even need a passport. In every corner of the world people would recognize her art forged by humanity. People smiled when they looked at her art and when they touched it. No special education is needed to feel and understand her art. She translated nature for all of us. If she was given the chance to live her life over, she would do the same thing again, and this is a gift of Gods. Vita brevis, Ars longa- Oltre il destino my dear friend, and rest in peace.
Carol is survived by her four children: Benjamin Gold and his wife Wanda Gold, Jenifer Gold and her husband Kurt Herzer, Michael Gold and his wife Megan Gold, and Julia Gold (her husband Todd Denton having predeceased); her two grandchildren Christopher Gold and Bryana Gold; her former husband, Warren Gold, with whom she maintained a friendship throughout her lifetime; her sister Alice Spatz, and her brother James Rosenstein; and countless dear friends and admirers of her beautiful art.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations are made in Carol's honor to Democracy Now! KPFA, The Sierra Club or Planned Parenthood.