A white oak and river cane basket weaver, bead worker, and potter, Betty Maney can often be found at her Cherokee, North Carolina home studio cutting and dyeing the oak strips to weave one of her exquisite baskets. That’s when she’s not working out a new design for her latest beaded creation or hand building her traditional Cherokee stamped pottery pieces. A member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), Betty’s one-of-a-kind contemporary, cultural art pieces are heavily influenced by traditional techniques and materials handed down with each generation.
Maney’s work has been featured in Indian Artist Magazine (now Cowboy and Indians), HGTV’s Modern Masters (November 2005), and Contemporary Pottery from North Carolina’s American Indian Communities (2009). While her passion is “preserving culture, tradition and technique through art and education,” Maney loves demonstrating, teaching and presenting her craftwork. One of her newest projects is designing a line of beaded accessories for men, including bolos and cufflinks.
