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Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Craft Revival
WCU - Craft Revival

Basket: rivercane, lidded

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  • This lidded basket was made by Cherokee basket weaver Carol Welch. Lidded baskets such as these were used to store foodstuffs and household goods. The double weave makes for a tight basket; some double weave baskets are even waterproof. The basket and cover are rectangular, one fitting inside the other. The top and base are different patterns. The diagonal bands of color that run from cover to base are from two different dyes; dark brown from butternut and orange from bloodroot, both plants native to the western North Carolina region. The design on the basket's base is the Arrowhead; the cover is Man in a Coffin with the "coffins" forming a band around the top of the basket. Lidded baskets patterned like this one are a copy of a rivercane basket in the British Museum. In the 1930s this 17th century basket became known to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, igniting a renaissance of double weave basket weaving. The double weave method is a complex weaving technique used by skilled Cherokee weavers. Carol Welch learned to weave white oak baskets from watching her mother. She later learned how to weave rivercane and honeysuckle baskets while attending Cherokee Indian School under Lottie Stamper.

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Craft Revival

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mountain craftsmen formed the cornerstone of a revived interest in things handmade to create a movement known as the Craft Revival. During the Revival...

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