Mary Shell

Mary Shell

Artisans

Cherokee women

Handicraft

Weaving -- Appalachian Region, Southern

Mary Shell (b. 1913), a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, was born and raised on the Qualla Boundary. A renowned sash weaver, Shell looked for a craft that she enjoyed doing. In 1956 she got a job at the Oconaluftee Indian Village where she learned sash weaving. She continued to demonstrate this craft at the Village for several decades. Sashes were an important part of the dress for both Cherokee men and women during the early 1800s. Shell was honored with an exhibition at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual in 1972. In this photograph, Shell (seated) talks with Joan Mondale (left), wife of Vice President Mondale. The photograph was made on June 7, 1977 when Mrs. Mondale attended the ground breaking of the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, NC. Mondale was accompanied by the wife of the U.S. Senator from North Carolina, Robert B. Morgan, and Mrs. Lana Gudger, wife of Vonno Lamar Gudger, a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina's 11th District. In the foreground, hang Shell’s sash weaving; in the background a number of Cherokee baskets can be seen. National Park Service rangers monitor the event. The photographer's name is unknown.

Unknown

Photograph Collection

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

1977-06-07

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

jpg;

photographs

StillImage

16481

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/16481

2010-04-06

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., Cherokee, NC 28719;

Buncombe County (N.C.)

Appalachian Region, Southern

10" x 8"(dimension)

Craft Revival