The Museum of the Cherokee Indian will offer a two-day workshop on making stamped pottery on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21. Tammy Beane, of Collinsville, Ala., will teach how to make traditional Cherokee stamped pottery.
The cost for the two-day workshop is $25 for EBCI tribal members. Both days will begin at 9am and run until 4pm in the Art Studio of the Ken Blankenship Education and Research Wing of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. The entrance to the Art Studio is at the back gate of the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Beginners and advanced potters are welcome.
POTTERY: The photos shows a fragment of a Qualla style pot found at the Kituwha Mound. The original was about 10 inches in diameter. This pot could be 600 years old. Potters can recreate this pot in the workshop. Other stamped patterns come from the Birdtown Mound and throughout the original Cherokee territory. (Photo courtesy of Museum of the Cherokee Indian)
The workshop will cover the history of stamped pottery, which began almost 3,000 years ago in the southern Appalachians. Participants will learn to make large bowls that are hand coiled and stamped. The workshop is sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian.
Beane taught pottery workshops at the Museum from 2002-06, helping to revitalize Cherokee pottery. She makes museum-quality reproductions of southeastern pots from the earliest time of fiber-tempered pottery through the effigy pots of the Mississippian period through today, and reproduces the work of many southeastern tribes. Her pots are sought after by museums because they reproduce original pots with accurate details.
Participants in the workshop will receive copies of an article about Eva Catolster and her pottery methods in 1908. She was one of the last people in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to make pots using the stamped technique. She was also the daughter of Yonaguska. During the 20th century, many Cherokee women made pots in the Catawba style because this was popular with tourists. In the early 21st century, Cherokee potters became interested in learning about their older, more traditional style of pottery.
The class size is limited to fifteen people. Sign up at the Museum Store and pay $25 to be registered for the workshop. You can call and pay by credit card at 828-497-3481 ext. 1000.
– Museum of the Cherokee Indian
