Cherokee Heritage Trails

Emily Smith makes white oak baskets and honeysuckle baskets with materials gathered from the woods and dyed with natural dyes. She can demonstrate basketry, or she can teach small group hands-on workshops. She enjoys working with students of any age, up to and including senior citizens. Groups should include no more than ffteen students.

Born and raised on Indian Creek, Emily Smith has lived on the Qualla Boundary all of her life. She attended day school at the Big Cove school, and eventually earned her GED. Both her father and mother were basket makers; her mother in particular made white oak baskets. When Emily was eight years old, she began making baskets with little oak strips that her parents discarded. Her frst basket was a bread basket, and her family used it to store silverware for many years. Her husband Levi Smith has helped her locate the white oak trees, fell them, split the logs, and then strip the wood to provide splints for her baskets. She dyes some of these strips with walnut and with bloodroot for decorative weaving. Emily Smith has presented programs about basketry at schools and colleges in Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama.

Although she occasionally makes baskets from honeysuckle vines, she is best known for her white oak baskets. Accompanied by her daughter JoAnn, Emily Smith is willing to travel throughout the region to demonstrate basketmaking or teach one-day workshops. Her daughter assists her with driving and with the programs. Hands-on workshops must supply the following materials on site: scissors or knives for each student, tables, and blue denim or other thick material for padding the lap while weaving the white oak splints. Their fee is negotiable and must include compensation for any travel.