LOCATION :: Asheville, NC
TYPE :: Community Design - Collaborative Public Art Installation and Parklet
Collaborators :: Mary Welch Thompson, Iron Maiden Studios, Ironwood Studios, Center for Craft, and Committee of Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)
This public art installation and parklet was designed by ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary Welch Thompson, consulting artist and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) basket maker, in conjunction with OLA (landscape architecture consultant), Iron Maiden Studios (local, women-owned metal artists), Ironwood Studios (local builders), and a committee of EBCI educators. ᏔᎷᏣ The Basket welcomes locals and visitors with a symbol that emblematizes Cherokee history and contemporary cultural expression.
The installation marks a trading route on the ancestral land of the EBCI, who were forcibly displaced from the area in the 1830s. It also symbolizes the living cultural legacy of the EBCI and their rich contributions to craft with the design referencing Cherokee basketry in its materials, structure, colors, patterns, and use.
It took many months of perseverance and redesign to gather permit approvals from the City of Asheville and NCDOT. However, the team’s perseverance was unending and now we are honored to witness The Basket in place at the Center for Craft.
Please visit the Center for Craft website for more information https://www.centerforcraft.org/
Photo Credit: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft
Photo credit: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft
Photo credit: Emmanuel Figaro. Courtesy Center for Craft.
Richard Sneed, 28th Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, speaking at the grand opening. Photo credit: Emmanuel Figaro. Courtesy Center for Craft.
Photo credits: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft
Photo credit: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft
Photo credit: Emmanuel Figaro. Courtesy Center for Craft.
Photo credit: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft
Photo credit: Swinney Creative, courtesy of Center for Craft