Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Basket: rivercane, shopper

  • wcu_craft_revival-4834.jpg
  • This two-handled purse basket, or "shopper" as it is known locally, was made by accomplished Cherokee basket weaver, Eva Queen Wolfe (1922-2004) and photographed by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in 1969. The 14" high basket was woven in a pattern known as Noon Day Sun. Living and working in the Big Cove community northeast of Cherokee, Eva Wolfe was a master basket weaver who specialized in baskets made from rivercane. She was born in 1922 in the Soco Community of the Qualla Boundary and studied basket weaving in high school under her aunt, Lottie Queen Stamper. Over the course of her lifetime, Wolfe won many local and national awards in recognition of her work. These included numerous prizes in competitions at the annual fairs held on the Qualla Boundary as well as awards from the North Carolina Folklore Society, National Endowment for the Arts, and the United States Department of Interior.