190:, where Mabel Bigmeat taught her Cherokee pottery-building methods. Swimmer demonstrated pottery making at the village for more than 35 years, often building more than a thousand pots in a summer season. Swimmer was one of the first individuals to propose different uses and names for traditional Cherokee pottery.
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Swimmer (née
Sequoyah) was 16 when she married Luke Swimmer. Luke was eleven years her senior, a widower and a father. After marriage she became a step-mother to his daughter, Mary Ellen. She said that they met at church: "Well, he used to stay over there across on the other side of the mountain; we
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west of the
Mississippi River in 1839. lands in the American West. Swimmer did not use a potter's wheel to create any of her work. Instead, she built all of her pottery by shaping it only with her hands. She used various types of wood to fire it, and the final color of her pottery was determined by
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in North
Carolina. Amanda was the youngest of 12. As a child, she lived with her family in a log cabin in Big Cove, a community of the Qualla Boundary. Her family was self-sufficient and grew all of its own food. As a child, she attended Big Cove Day School.
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Swimmer taught herself to form and fire pots after discovering a deposit of clay near her home in the Big Cove community. She sold her first pots to tourists brought to her home by a park ranger familiar with her work.
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Swimmer was quoted as saying "I wouldn't take nothing to leave out of here. I'm 81. I've been here since I was born, and I don't tend to go nowheres. I just want to leave this world right here where I was born."
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Swimmer was instrumental in reviving historic
Cherokee pottery techniques that had fallen into disuse in North Carolina after the disruption of the mass Cherokee
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potter. Swimmer's career focused on coil-built
Cherokee pottery, and she worked to determine the name and function of these vessels. She was recognized in
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went to church and we just got together, I met him there." Together the
Swimmers had nine children together, six boys and three girls.
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Swimmer, Amanda. Interview with Susan
Gardner. Personal Interview, 13 October 1995, UNCC. Qualla Boundary, North Carolina.
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for her contributions to the state's artistic and mountain heritage, and in 2018 she was named a
Beloved Woman by the
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Swimmer was born Amanda Mabel
Sequoyah to Molly Davis Sequoyah and Runningwolf Sequoyah on October 27, 1921, on the
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Deramus, Elizabeth. (Photographer). "Amanda
Swimmer: Cherokee Elder & Potter" Cherokee, North Carolina:
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King, Duane H. (1977). "Vessel Morphology of Eighteenth Century Overhill Ceramics".
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Swimmer died at her home in Big Cove on November 23, 2018, at the age of 97.
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410:"Amanda Swimmer". Traditional Artists. Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.
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286:"Amanda Swimmer, Potter and Keeper of Cherokee Traditions, Dies at 97"
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Native-American awarded the title of "Beloved Woman" by her tribe
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Beautiful Soul: Beloved Woman Amanda Swimmer Passes Away
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https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/artist/amanda-swimmer/
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In 2009 she received the Mountain Heritage Award from
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186:At the age of 36, Swimmer began working at the
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400:https://nsv.uncc.edu/interview/nasw0015.html
465:https://www.elizabethderamus.com/Retrieved
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537:People from Swain County, North Carolina
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567:21st-century Native American artists
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351:"Amanda Swimmer named Beloved Woman"
222:for her work in traditional pottery.
587:21st-century American women artists
577:20th-century American women artists
512:Eastern Band Cherokee women artists
562:21st-century Native American women
552:20th-century Native American women
374:"Amanda Mabel Swimmer." obituary.
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522:Cherokee people on the Baker Roll
225:In 2018 the federally recognized
227:Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
159:Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
582:21st-century American ceramists
572:20th-century American ceramists
120:Molly and Runningwolfe Sequoyah
445:"88-year-old potter honored".
284:Fota, Ana (December 6, 2018).
137:Mountain Heritage Award (2009)
69:Big Cove, North Carolina, U.S.
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517:Eastern Band Cherokee artists
213:North Carolina Heritage Award
211:In 1994 Swimmer received the
542:Artists from North Carolina
425:Journal of Cherokee Studies
378:Retrieved 26 November 2018.
326:Western Carolina University
220:Western Carolina University
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188:Oconaluftee Indian Village
547:American women ceramists
197:from their homelands to
165:Early life and education
527:Native American potters
447:Asheville Citizen-Times
238:Personal life and death
147:Amanda Sequoyah Swimmer
265:Myrtle Driver Johnson
229:honored Swimmer as a
151:Eastern Band Cherokee
80:Eastern Band Cherokee
33:Amanda Mabel Sequoyah
482:Cherokee One Feather
376:Crisp Funeral Home.
355:Smoky Mountain News
322:Cherokee Traditions
449:. 4 October 2009.
206:Legacy and honors
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132:NC Heritage Award
62:November 24, 2018
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112:Luke Swimmer
64:(2018-11-24)
507:2018 deaths
502:1921 births
75:Nationality
496:Categories
271:References
91:Occupation
39:1921-10-27
431:(1): 155.
117:Parent(s)
463:(2002)
360:12 April
331:12 April
297:July 31,
254:See also
84:American
47:Big Cove
195:removal
178:Pottery
134:(1994)
125:Awards
109:Spouse
95:Potter
53:, U.S.
101:Title
362:2018
333:2018
299:2021
59:Died
29:Born
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429:II
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.