On View
Weaving Real to Reel: Spotlight on ᏲᎾ Bear Allison
Weaving Real to Reel: Spotlight on ᏲᎾ Bear Allison
Mar
14
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Jul
28
Mar 14, 2022
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Jul 28, 2022
Weaving Real to Reel showcases two films by Eastern Band Cherokee filmmaker and photographer ᏲᎾ Bear Allison, Weaving Connections [2022] and A Cherokee Basket Maker [2014]. Each of Allison’s films cast light on the Cherokee artists behind the masterful baskets that are on view in the Center for Craft’s galleries. Allison captures their intensive process of harvesting, processing, dyeing and weaving, and in turn, illuminates the generations of skill and material knowledge compounded into every Cherokee basket through the cinematic format.
Bear Allison made his latest film, Weaving Connections, in conjunction with the exhibition ᎢᏛᏍᎦ ᏫᏥᏤᎢ ᎠᎵᏰᎵᏒ Weaving Across Time. It features the artists ᏚᏍᏓᏯᎫᎾᏱ Gabriel Crow, Lucille Lossiah, Ramona Lossie, ᏗᎳᏂ Dylan Morgan, and ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary W. Thompson, who speak about their deep-rooted relationships with the land and the natural materials they weave with as well as their motivations for making.
A Cherokee Basket Maker features second-generation basket maker, Louise Goings, whose white oak baskets are on view in the alcove display. Goings learned her craft by watching her mother, celebrated basket maker Emma Taylor. In the film, she speaks about the distinction between identifying as a “basket weaver” and a “basket maker,” who knows how to harvest, process and dye all of their materials before they even begin to weave.
This exhibition was developed as part of the 2023 Center for Craft Curatorial Fellowship. This program was created in 2017 to provide emerging curators with a platform to explore and test new ideas about craft. Each curator receives an honorarium, access to professional development tools, mentoring, and the opportunity to work closely with the other Curatorial Fellows and Center for Craft staff to produce their exhibition, develop educational materials, design an exhibition catalog, and deliver a curatorial talk.
Meet the artists
Faye Junaluska
Cherokee, NC
Lucille Lossiah
Ramon Lose
Cullowhee, NC
ᏯᏗ ᎺᏂ Betty Maney
Cherokee, NC
ᏗᎳᏂ Dylan Morgan
Cherokee, NC
ᎺᎵ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Mary W. Thompson
ᏎᎳᏂ ᏔᎻᏏᏂ Sarah Thompson
Patricia Welch
about the artists
Photo credit: Jamie Hopper
Photo credit: Jamie Hopper
about the curator
exhibition Images
exhibition Images
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