Join us for a virtual program in conjunction with the exhibition ᎢᏛᏍᎦ ᏫᏥᏤᎢ ᎠᎵᏰᎵᏒ: ᎪᏥᎩ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏔᎷᏣ ᏗᎬᏗ, ᎦᏙ, ᏃᎴ ᎪᎵᏍᏗᎯ Weaving Across Time: Contemporary Cherokee Basket Making, Land, and Identity. Speakers include ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary W. Thompson, Dr. Courtney Lewis, and Adam Griffith.

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About the Speakers

ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary W. Thompson is an esteemed second-generation basket weaver and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). She expresses her appreciation for her ancestry and culture through her woven creations.The daughter of Geraldine W. Walkingstick and mother to ᏎᎳᏂ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Sarah Thompson, Mary W. Thompson is the link to three generations of basket weavers. Thompon's work has received numerous awards and is part of the permanent collection of the University of South Alabama, Mobile. Her work has been published in the National Basketry Organization’s Tradition & Innovation in Basketry Today Juried & Invitational exhibition All Things Considered, and WNC Mountain Living Magazine. Mary has also taught basketry at the Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg Tennessee, Sequoyah Museum in Vonore, Tennessee and at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina. A veteran of the United States Air Force, Mary has served four terms representing the tribal members in the legislative branch of Tribal Government. A mom, gardener, potter and basket weaver, she continues to volunteer in the community and serves on several national and local boards.

Adam Griffith is the Director of the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources based in Cherokee, NC.  Griffith earned his Ph.D. from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Geography and was the Director of the Rivercane Restoration Project through the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS) at Western Carolina University from 2008 - 2014.  Griffith received his  M.S. in Biology from Western Carolina University studying the native bamboo Arundinaria gigantea and earned a B.S. in Biology from Roanoke College. In 2011, he co-founded the Public Laboratory and as a result, his writings can be found on the PBS IdeaLab blog, publiclab.org, and others.  He has presented his research with the Public Laboratory across the United States, Mexico, and Europe.

Dr. Courtney Lewis is a Professor of Anthropology at Duke University, is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina – Columbia, and is the author of Sovereign Entrepreneurs: Cherokee Small-Business Owners and the Making of Economic Sovereignty. She has previously held the positions of Mellon Visiting Professor of Justice, Equality, and Community in Anthropology at Davidson College and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Americas at Wesleyan University. Dr. Lewis earned her PhD at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in the Department of Anthropology, her  M.A. in Economics at Wayne State University, and her B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan. Lewis is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Her work centers on economic development for Native Nations in the United States and, consequently, issues of sovereignty related to — and based upon the necessity of — economic sustainability and stability. Her initial research was focused on small businesses located on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.
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About the Exhibition

ᎢᏛᏍᎦ ᏫᏥᏤᎢ ᎠᎵᏰᎵᏒ: ᎪᏥᎩ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏔᎷᏣ ᏗᎬᏗ, ᎦᏙ, ᏃᎴ ᎪᎵᏍᏗᎯ Weaving Across Time: Contemporary Cherokee Basket Making, Land, and Identity features nine contemporary Eastern Band Cherokee artists who are creatively building on a centuries-old practice of basket making. Learning from mothers, grandmothers, and mentors, they sustainably harvest, process, and dye materials found throughout Western North Carolina, and weave them into exquisite baskets. The works on view are more than beautiful objects - they are vessels that preserve, store, and celebrate indigenous wisdom, identity, and creativity.

Exhibiting Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Artists include: ᏚᏍᏓᏯᎫᎾᏱ Gabriel Crow, Faye Junaluska, Lucille Lossiah, Ramona Lossie, ᏯᏗ ᎺᏂ Betty Maney, ᏗᎳᏂ Dylan Morgan, ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary W. Thompson, ᏎᎳᏂ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Sarah Thompson, Patricia Welch. Translations by Marie Junaluska.‍

ᎢᏛᏍᎦ ᏫᏥᏤᎢ ᎠᎵᏰᎵᏒ Weaving Across Time is on view at the Center for Craft until April 22, 2022.