Virgil Ledford

Virgil Ledford

Artisans

Cherokee Indians

Handicraft

Manners and customs

Wood-carvers

Wood-carving -- Appalachian Region, Southern

Woodwork -- Appalachian Region, Southern

This undated Indian Arts and Crafts Board photograph shows Cherokee woodcarver Virgil Ledford (b. 1940) carving a figure of a cat or raccoon. Ledford was born and raised in the Birdtown community near Cherokee and had a talent for drawing as a young boy. He translated this gift into wood early in his life and began carving small figures of animals, which he refined in high school under the instruction on renowned Cherokee woodcarver, Amanda Crowe. Ledford uses mostly cherry, basswood, buckeye, walnut, and cedar for his carvings and is known for his animal figures. He is also the creator of several noted larger pieces that include historical Cherokee figures like Sequoyah and the sculpture of a Cherokee hunter with an eagle that became the official logo of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in 1975.

United States. Indian Arts and Crafts Board

Photograph Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg

photographs

StillImage

11039

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/11039

2009-01-15

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC 28719;

Qualla Boundary

Appalachian Region, Southern

10" x 8"(dimension)

Cherokee Traditions