Lot 8085
Nancy Conseen (NC, 1929-1997), Cherokee Rivercane Basket
Lot Details & Additional Photographs
10 1/4 x 11 x 11 in.
Private Collection, Greensboro, North Carolina
Accomplished basket weaver, Nancy Conseen, was born August 12, 1929 in Cherokee, North Carolina. Nancy learned to weave white oak and honeysuckle baskets in the Cherokee tradition from her mother, Caroline Conseen, as well as in school from Lottie Stamper.
Besides the many ribbons that she won at the annual Cherokee Indian Fair, she won state and national level awards. In 1976, she was included in a Documentary of Six Cherokee Artists, an exhibit inaugurating the renovation of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. She twice won the first prize at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh and was selected as Craftswoman of the Year in 1981. Conseen participated in the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Nancy taught workshops at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina and exhibited her work with the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Besides the work she did throughout North Carolina, Conseen’s work took her to fairs and festivals beyond her home state. She traveled, often with her daughters, to New Mexico, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington DC. Her work twice appeared at the White House. In 1977, First Lady Rosalyn Carter selected her baskets as centerpieces for a White House dinner and, in 1984, she made a “jelly bean basket” for President Ronald Reagan’s 73rd birthday. In 1994, she and her daughter, Pamela were featured in the 1994 video documentary, Cherokee Artists: The Basket Weavers.
Literature:
Fariello, Anna. Cherokee Basketry: From the Hands of our Elders,
published by The History Press (2009).
Mollie Blankenship and Stephen Richmond, Documentary of Six Cherokee Artists, Contemporary Artists and Craftsmen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Promotional Exhibits, 1969-1985, Published by Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., Cherokee, North Carolina (1987), 67.
Some dust soiling and light areas of surface staining; a few loose weavers.
