Cherokee Artist Joel Queen's Biography

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Joel Queen(photo by Maggie Steber 2006)

© copyright 2008 Joel Queen Gallery,Inc. All rights reserved.

Joel's work expresses the evolution of the lineage of potters known as the Bigmeat family. As the ninth generation Bigmeat potter, most recently following the path of his paternal grandmother, Ethel Bigmeat Queen (1914-1942), he is an extension of her work just as she was the extension of the work of her parents, grandparents, and great grandparents for as far back as we know.
        His talent is transferred genetically: it is a gift from his ancestors to be able to give meaning to clay, to pick up earth and create something that symbolizes his Cherokee culture. "I want my work to personify a legacy of thousands of years of Cherokee pottery, all that was taught and seen. I want to evoke from the viewer an appreciation of native art that embraces all of Cherokee history," notes Queen.
    During the Mississippi time period from which he draws his inspiration, the potters had mastered form and function and were experimenting with individuality and creativity: they had begun to bend the rules. The pots were evolving from pots that were solely functional into creative pieces of art.
"I feel in order for an artist to bend the rules he or she must first know the rules. Like the potters from the Mississippi time period, I am now at a point where I am starting to bend the rules. Although, I continue to perpetuate and preserve Southeastern pottery, I challenge myself by experimenting with size, shapes and techniques while making every effort to maintain the quality and purity of my traditions as I evolve artistically. I want my work to show innovation, incorporate new ideas and reveal the vitality of my society. I want it to both tipify the traditions of my ancestors, and embody my modern Cherokee experience in each piece," states Queen.
          His contemporary pots are not just reproductions of ancient techniques. They instead represent the expressions of traditions and spiritual values of a people, and provide a glimpse into the soul of a civilization during the Mississippi time period at a height of ceramic technology. "My work should be judged by the same criteria that are applied to ancient pottery. Age does not determine the value of work. Instead, the value of ancient work is judged by the mastery of technique, materials used, individuality, and representation of a particular period of time,"said Queen. These are the same qualities that exist in his pottery today.
            "Each creation has a specific time, place, function and design relative to my spirituality at the time. Art is an essential element to my life but only a part of a whole. My experiences, traditions, and spirituality continue to guide the production of my art, while preserving the spirit of the past, present and the future", according to Queen.
           His symbolic culture is also deeply embedded in his traditional stamped pots. They are tradition, true traditional Cherokee pots. They were created with hand-dug clay the same as thousands of years ago, sifted by hand, kneaded by hand, hand-coiled, stamped with hand carved wooden paddles, and fired in a traditional pit fire. They are created at the same sophisticated level of quality as the ancient Mississippian pots. They are created with a consistency of thickness, depth in the incisions, and fired at a precise temperature vitrifying the clay body, rendering the pots waterproof. These are skills learned only from a knowledge and mastery of the clay.
There are currently only about fourteen thousand members of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians left and roughly, two-hundred and fifty thousand members of the Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. To my knowledge, he is the only Cherokee potter that is still producing a true Cherokee pot in this manner. Unless others follow his lead, he will be the last traditional Cherokee potter.

Education:

MFA Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, May 2009
BFA Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, 2005

Collections:

Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
British Museum, London, England
Monticello, (Thomas Jefferson's House), Charlottesville, VA
Red River Museum, Idabel, OK
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Harrahs Cherokee Casino, Cherokee, NC
North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, NC
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA
Western Carolina University Fine Arts Center, Cullowhee, NC
Cherokee Heritage Museum, Tahlequah, OK
Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC

Commissions:

Monticello, Charlottesville, VA (2 Sandstone mortuary figures)
John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC (corn maiden carved totem)
Dolly Parton, (traditional Cherokee cooking pot)
World Harvest Church, Ellijay, GA(outdoor public art piece)
Western Carolina University UC Building, Cullowhee, NC (traditional and contemporary masks)
Cherokee Tribal EMS Building, Cherokee, NC (stone sculptures, wood sculptures, and raku vases)
The Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, NC (traditional overhill pots)
The Southern Highlands Reserve, Sapphire, NC
The Scottish Tartans Museum, Franklin, NC

Selected Awards and Honors

Best of Show-Grand Award, Red Earth, Oklahoma City, OK, 2009
First Place-Traditional Pottery, Red Earth, Oklahoma City, OK, 2009
Best of Division, Trail of Tears Art Show, Tahlequah, OK, 2009
First Place, Santa Fe Indian Market, Traditional Un-painted Pottery, 2008
Best of Show, Trail of Tears Art Show, Tahlequah, OK, 2008
Best of Division, Pottery, and Presidents Award for Excellence,
Traditional Pottery, Red Earth, Oklahoma City, OK, 2008
Best of Show, Red Earth, Oklahoma City, OK, 2007
Best of Show, Unity Indian Conference, Raleigh, NC, 2007
Best of Show, Trail of Tears Art Show, Tahlequah, OK, 2007
Best of Division in Contemporary Pottery, Cherokee Art Market, Tulsa, OK, 2007
First Place in Traditional and Contemporary Pottery, First Place in Stone
Sculpture, Cherokee Indian Fair, Cherokee, NC, 2007
First Place in Wood Sculpting, Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM, 2006
Best of Show and First Place in Traditional and Contemporary Pottery, and First
Place in Stone Sculpture, Cherokee Indian Fair, Cherokee, NC, 2006
First Place in Traditional Pottery, Cherokee Art Market, Tulsa, OK, 2006
Outstanding EBCI/TERO Representative Award, TERO, Cherokee, NC, 2006
Best of Show, First Place, and Judges Choice in Ceramics, Western North
Carolina State Fair, Arden, NC, 2005
Best of Show, First place for Traditional and Contemporary Pottery, and First
Place in Stone and Wood Sculpture, Cherokee Indian Fair, Cherokee, NC, 2005
Best of Show, Unity Indian Conference, Raleigh, NC, 2005
First Place in Traditional Pottery and First Place in Mixed Media Sculpture,
Schemitzen, Mystic-Groton, CT, 2005
Best of Show and First Place in Sculpting, Western Carolina University Student
Art Show, Cullowhee, NC, 2004
First and Second Place in Pottery and Sculpting, Schemitzen, Mystic-Groton, CT, 2004
First Place in Traditional and Contemporary Pottery, and First Place in Stone
Sculpture, Cherokee Fall Festival, Cherokee, NC, 2004
First Place in Traditional and Contemporary Pottery, and First Place in Stone
Sculpture, Cherokee Fall Festival, Cherokee, NC, 2003

Professional Affiliations:

Advisor, Cultural committee, Cherokee Central School System, Cherokee, NC

Board Member, Kituwah Academy, Cherokee, NC
Board Member, Center for Native Health, Cherokee, NC
Member, Cherokee Arts and Crafts Co-Op, Cherokee, NC

Selected Acknowledgements:

Tribal Members Place in Red Earth Art Show. Cherokee One Feather, June 17, 2009

Art Market Masters. Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian Magazine, Summer 2008, Vol. 9 No. 2

The Indian Art Market Trail. Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian Magazine, Summer 2008, Vol. 9 No. 2

The Return of Cherokee Stamped Pottery. Whispering Wind, 2004 Vol. 33 No. 5

WCU Celebrates Latest Renovations. The Asheville Citizen Times, January 13, 2004

Latest WCU Expansion Provides Sanctuary to Student Groups. The Cherokee One Feather, Vol. 39, No. 3, January 21, 2004

UC Expansion Unveiled. The Sylva Herald, January 22, 2004
Myth and Legend, Native American Arts. The Catskill Mountain Foundation Gallery, August 14-September 26, 2004

WCU, Cherokee Leaders Celebrate Sequoyah Professorship. The Sylva Herald, February 27, 2003

Cherokee Share Tribe’s Culture at Voices Festival. The Sylva Herald, June 15, 2003

Tribal Member’s Sculptures on Permanent Display at Monticello. The Cherokee One Feather,Vol.37, No. 47, November 27, 2002

Joel Queen to Display Cherokee Pottery at WCU. The Sylva Herald, November 28, 2002

People of Fire, A Revival of Cherokee Pottery Traditions. Chelsea Gallery, A.K. HindsUniversity Center, Western Carolina University,
                     December 3-13, 2002

WCU Sophmore’s Art to be Displayed at Monticello. The Asheville Citizen Times, December 22, 2002

Language of the Mask, Contemporary and Traditional Approaches. Chelsea Gallery, A.K. Hinds University Center, Western Carolina
                    University, August 18- September 19, 2002

Kituwah Festival Helps American Indian Art Tradition Survive. The Asheville
           Citizen Times, November11, 2001

The Trail of Tears. Cowboys and Indians, January 2000, Vol. 7 No. 6

PO Box 2406 Cherokee, North Carolina 28719

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