Basket: rivercane

This display photograph is of a rivercane basket woven in a Peace Pipe design by Cherokee basket weaver Carol Welch. Carol Smith Welch was the daughter of Helen Bradley Smith, who was also an accomplished Cherokee basket weaver. Welch's aunt, Eva Bradley, was also a basket weaver. Born in 1940, Welch learned to weave white oak baskets by watching her mother and later learned to weave rivercane and honeysuckle baskets from Lottie Stamper in school basketry classes. While at school, she also learned the double weave method of making rivercane baskets and, later, became Lottie Stamper’s assistant. Her husband, Davis Welch, is a master mask maker. Welch lives in the Big Cove Community of the Qualla Indian Boundary, North Carolina. The photographer's name is unknown