The Cherokee Nation earlier this week opened its Anna Mitchell Cultural & Welcome Center on Route 66 in Vinita, Oklahoma.
Mitchell is known as one of the Cherokee Nation’s pre-eminent pottery artists. She began her ground-breaking experiments with clay from an area less than a mile from the future home of the welcome center.
More about Mitchell’s works:
The Tulsa World reported about the center’s opening:
Its exhibits include some of Mitchell’s work, which has become highly collectible. First through trial and error, then by studying museum pieces and consulting with various experts, Mitchell eventually became a renowned artist and today gets credit for reviving Cherokee traditions of handmade pottery. […]
Built in what used to be the Vinita Country Club, the Cherokee Cultural and Welcome Center was the brainchild of the tribe’s first lady, January Hoskin, who could not attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony due to illness. […]
In addition to exhibits on Cherokee art, culture and history, the center includes a large gift shop and a cafe with Native-inspired cuisine.
Outdoors, the grounds include a large sculpture of “A Bundle of Seven Arrows” representing the seven clans of the Cherokee Nation. The sculpture sits inside a landscaping feature known as “The Vessel,” designed to resemble Mitchell’s stamped pottery patterns.
Here are some photos from the welcome center posted on social media:
The welcome center will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 953 E. Illinois Ave. (aka Route 66) in Vinita.
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