Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Baskets: display

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  • This undated photograph by an unknown photographer depicts an outdoor display of baskets by Carol Welch. The display was photographed for the exhibition “Baskets of the Woods”, which was held in the fall of 1977. The exhibitions were held at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, an artisan cooperative in Cherokee, North Carolina and was supported by a grant from the American Indian Program of the Save the Children Federation. Carol Smith Welch was the daughter of Helen Bradley Smith, an accomplished Cherokee basket weaver. Her aunt, Eva Bradley, was also a basket weaver. Born in 1940, Welch learned to weave white oak baskets by watching her mother and later learned to weave rivercane and honeysuckle baskets from Lottie Stamper in school basketry classes. While at school, she also learned the double weave method of making rivercane baskets and, later, became Lottie Stamper’s assistant. Her husband, Davis Welch, is a master mask maker. Welch lives in the Big Cove Community of the Qualla Indian Boundary, North Carolina.