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'Cherokee Pottery, People of One Fire'
The exhibit features a wide range of pottery created by nearly 30 artists from Cherokees in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band. Local artists include Joel Queen, Melissa Maney, Paulette Smart, Amanda Swimmer, Ronell Maney, Elizabeth Bigmeet Jackson, Shirley Oswalt, Tara McCoy, and Nancy, John and Johnny Maney. The pottery exhibit was inspired through the partnership of Cherokee potters who look to their ancestors for inspiration while creating the next direction for an art form that has survived European contact, disease, and removal from their native homelands and families. Specifically, the concept for the pottery exhibit originated from a class taught in Tahlequah, O.K. in 2006. Eastern Band artist Joel Queen, and master potter Tamara Beane went to Cherokee Nation to conduct a week-long seminar to share traditional building, design and firing techniques with Cherokee potters in Oklahoma. The sharing of ancient secrets continued a tradition of passing a portion of Cherokee culture from one family member to the next. The Cherokee people have been involved with creating pottery from soils in and around the Great Smoky Mountains for more than 3,000 years - and they continue those traditions today. The local clays of the Southern Appalachians has been transformed into cooking pots, bowls, pipes, water jugs, and more. While the styles and designs have changed over centuries, artists still use similar techniques to create their works, some passed down for generations. Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual is located at 645 Tsali Blvd across the street from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, N.C. For more information, contact Qualla at 828-497-3103, or visit HYPERLINK "http://www. cherokee-nc.com" www.cherokee nc.com.
Cherokee, N.C., was named 2006 Travel Attraction of the Year by the Southeast Tourism Society. Its cultural attractions include "Unto These Hills … a retelling"; the Oconaluftee Indian Village, a living replica of a 1750s Cherokee village; The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, interpreting the tribe's history in the Smoky Mountains; and tribal art galleries such as Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc. More information is available by calling the Cherokee Welcome Center at (800) 438-1601 or visiting online at www.cherokee-nc.com.
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