Hands, Heart, Mind

The Museum is pleased to present an exhibition highlighting our growing Cherokee art collection. The art of the Cherokee represents the longest tradition of art and creativity in Western North Carolina. While Cherokee art ranges from painting to weaving, the Museum’s collection focuses on three areas: basketry, ceramics and sculpture, and includes both functional and non-functional works.

Perhaps the best known Cherokee artists are the basket makers. For many hundreds of years Cherokee weavers have selected and harvested plants, trees, roots, nuts and vines to create an astonishing number and variety of baskets. The Cherokee have been making pottery in Western North Carolina for almost 3,000 years, making it one of the oldest, ongoing ceramic traditions in the world. In carving there are masks, tools, spiritual and evocative works.