Elsie Watty: Basketweaver

This four-page brochure was created by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a division of the U.S. Department of Interior, to accompany an exhibition of baskets by Elsie Watty held in the summer of 1977. The exhibitions were held at Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, an artisan cooperative in Cherokee, North Carolina and was supported by a grant from the American Indian Program of the Save the Children Federation. Elsie Watty’s patterned white oak checkerwork baskets were pictured in the brochure and shown in the exhibit. Elsie Welch Watty (1935-2016) is a master Cherokee basket weaver who specialized in making white oak baskets and is known for creating her own designs. She lives and works on the Galamore Branch in the Big Cove community near Cherokee. Although her mother and grandmother each wove baskets, neither of them taught her the craft. Instead, she learned by observation and began to make baskets when she was 10 years old. While she was an active basket weaver, she is said to have made 100 baskets a year