Louise Bigmeet Maney
 

Louise Maney comes from a line of potters. She was born and raised on Wrights Creek. Her mother, Charlotte Bigmeat, introduced the skills of this art to her daughters, Ethel, Elizabeth, Mabel, and Louise. When Louise was about six or seven, she and her mother and brothers traveled to the clay bed which was three or four miles from their house. This process lasted all day, so they took their lunch, dug clay all day, and hauled it back home on their sled. The clay was prepared the old way, which involved letting it dry in the sun for three days. It was then beaten into powder and put in cans of water. Although it took two weeks to process enough clay to make pottery, there was no other choice. Their mother's pottery was traded for food.

Once Louise started school, she didn't work with pottery for years. Her mother's hands began cramping, so Louise helped her. It was too painful to continue the art after her mother died; besides, Louise had seven children to raise. It was only after all the children were in school that she started making pottery again. She was a teacher's aide for twenty-three years. During that time, she attended Western Carolina University in the summers. When she was in her forties, she quit school to devote her energies to her gift as a potter.

Louise's shop, Bigmeat House of Pottery, on Hwy. 19 in Cherokee is where she sells her decorative pottery. In 1998, she received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award for her continuing efforts of preserving the Cherokee culture. Her pottery appears in the Smithsonian Institution collection.

The following biography from The Cherokee Artist Directory, 2001, Cherokee, North Carolina by Barbara Duncan, Freeman Owle, Amy Davis and Tess Thraves, published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council and the Cultural Resources Division of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is used with permission from the editors.

Born and raised on Wrights Creek, Louise Bigmeet (a surname meaning, 'big meeting place') grew up helping her mother make pottery, some of which they traded for coffee, sugar, and flour.  She traces her heritage as a potter through generations of Cherokee women: Louise's mother, Charlotte Welch Bigmeat (an older spelling of the name), and her aunt, Maude Welch, were both prominent Cherokee potters.

After attending Soco Day Schools and Cherokee Central High School, Louise Bigmeet Maney worked for years as an educator in the local community development program and in the local schools.  When she retired in 1987, she returned to making pottery, and she and her husband opened their own shop.  All their work is finished using traditional methods.  Louise Maney's pottery continues to be in great demand, and has been collected by the Smithsonian Institution.

Louise Bigmeet Maney takes seriously her role as educator.  Local school groups and others have discovered that a visit to the Bigmeet House of Pottery provides an educational experience.  She is active in the North American Indian Women's Association (NAIWA) and in the Painttown Community Organization. For her work in preserving Cherokee tradition, Mouise Bigmeet Maney received the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1998.

Louise Bigmeet Maney prefers to do programs and demonstrations in the western parts of North Carolina, but will consider traveling to other area.  She travels with her husband, and they have more time available during the winter months than during the summer.  Her fee is negotiable, and must include compensation for travel."  

Louise Bigmeet Maney
PO Box 583
Cherokee, NC 28719
(828)497-9544, call anytime before 9 p.m.

Sources:
[Used with permission] The Cherokee artist directory 2001. Research and writing, Barbara Duncan ... [et al.] ; editing Barbara Duncan, Beverly Patterson. Cherokee, N.C. : Museum of the Cherokee Indian in collaboration with the North Carolina Arts Council and the Cultural Resources Division of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, [2001]