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WCU - Cherokee Traditions

Elsie Watty

  • wcu_cherokee_traditions-541.jp2
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  • In this undated photograph by an unknown photographer, basket weaver Elsie Watty is checking a chip from the white oak tree to see if it will make good material for basket weaving. Elsie Welch Watty (1935-2016) was a master Cherokee basket weaver who specialized in making white oak baskets and was known for creating her own designs. She was lived and worked on the Galamore Branch in the Big Cove community near Cherokee. Although her mother and grandmother each wove baskets, neither of them taught her the craft. Instead, she learned by observation and began to make baskets when she was ten years old. In 1977 her work was exhibited at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual artisan cooperative. While she was an active basket weaver, she is said to have made 100 baskets a year.

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Cherokee Traditions

Cherokee Traditions: From the Hands of Our Elders is a database of Cherokee art forms, historic photographs, and native language recordings. The images reproduced here are primarily from t...

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wcu_cherokee_traditions-541.jp2