Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Eva Wolfe

  • wcu_cherokee_traditions-556.jp2
  • Basket maker Eva Wolfe is shown in this undated photograph with an unfinished rivercane basket in her lap. She sits surrounded by many other rivercane baskets, most of them in the complex double weave style. Living and working in the Big Cove community northeast of Cherokee, Eva Queen Wolfe (1922-2004) was a master basket weaver who specialized in making baskets from rivercane. Born in the Soco Community of the Qualla Boundary, she studied basket weaving in high school under her aunt, Lottie Queen Stamper (1907-1987). 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 US Department of Interior. The photographer's name is unknown.