knoxville news
knoxville news knoxville advertising entertainment knoxville obituaries rss linkedin twitter facebook contact smoky mountains knoxville legal notices knoxville classifieds travel knoxville sports business lifestyle knoxville daily sun
 

Mary W. Thompson awarded Arrowmont’s Appalachian Craft And Culture Fellowship

mary welch thompson - arrowmont fellowship
Mary Welch Thompson; image courtesy of Arrowmont


GATLINBURG, TN - Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is pleased to announce that ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ, Mary Welch Thompson is the Spring 2021 Appalachian Craft and Culture Fellow. Thompson is a second-generation basket weaver, potter and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) from the Big Cove Community in Cherokee, NC.

“I have some weaving projects which I am looking forward to getting started,” Thompson said.  “With spring coming, I can harvest fresh dyes for my cane splits. I do selective harvesting of mature cane prior to it dying back.  Spring and Fall is usually the time we like to harvest basketry materials.”

The daughter of Geraldine W. Walkingstick and mother to daughter Sarah, Thompson links three generations of basket weavers. Her mother raised her by “making and selling baskets,” she said, and she shares that creative legacy with her own children and grandchildren.

“I have been busy following up on a few projects that I had put on hold, such as maintenance and roofing for my work shop.  I have had some time to sit with my grandkids and make pottery during these cold, wet days.  We really enjoy this.”  




Thompson won awards for her baskets and pottery. Her work is in university, museum and private collections, including those of Senator Kay Hagan and country music star Merle Haggard. She created river cane double woven baskets with lids by commission which are on display at the University of South Alabama, Mobile. Her work is published in the National Basketry Organization’s Tradition & Innovation in Basketry Today, the invitational exhibition All Things Considered and in WNC Mountain Living Magazine. Mary demonstrates and teaches basketry in craft centers including Arrowmont, Sequoyah Museum in Vonore, Tennessee, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina, and the Georgia Art Museum in Athens, Georgia.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, Thompson served four terms representing the tribal members in the legislative branch of Tribal Government. As a mom, gardener, potter and basket weaver, she volunteers in the community and serves on several national and local boards.

For her upcoming Fellowship, she asks the Smoky Mountains community for their help finding new basketry materials from the land. She said, “I do need to locate a river cane patch, if anyone of your audience might know of any. Basketry, as my more traditional art form directly relates to my surroundings. The forest and mountains contain all the resources. The knowledge needs to be shared.”

The Appalachian Craft and Culture Fellowship was established as a program of Arrowmont’s Preserving and Teaching Traditional Appalachian Craft initiative. The Fellowship offers traditional craft artists and cultural elders the opportunity, time, and space to learn, reflect and share their knowledge of traditional craft. The Fellowship includes a stipend plus resources to attend conferences or other educational opportunities. During their tenure, Fellows present a public lecture and mount a small exhibition of their work. The Fellowship is open to Central Appalachian traditional craft artists and cultural elders. Preference will be given to the non-classically educated artist.

For more information about the Appalachian Craft and Culture Fellowship, visit arrowmont.org or email Fran Day, director of institutional advancement, 865-436-5860, fday@arrowmont.org.

Founded as a settlement school in 1912 by the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women, Arrowmont has grown into a national center for contemporary arts and crafts education, supporting learning opportunities for individuals of all skills levels and ages. Arrowmont is located on 13-acres in the heart of Gatlinburg, TN only minutes away from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With access to tourist attractions, the convenience of a large city nearby, and a thriving arts and crafts community, Arrowmont offers a unique and immersive learning environment—an unexpected creative oasis amidst the bustle of a popular tourist destination. The heritage of the School is rooted in an approach to the arts that builds upon traditional arts and crafts, and the joy of making. People travel from across the nation and the globe to take classes at Arrowmont. More than 150 national workshops are offered annually, in addition to a full complement of community classes, children’s classes and ArtReach classes, which provide a day of art to over 1,200 local school children annually. In addition, Arrowmont is host to numerous gallery exhibitions, symposia and conferences.



Published April 12, 2021








great smoky mountains














knoxville daily sun Knoxville Daily Sun
2021 Image Builders
User Agreement | Privacy Policy