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Davy Arch - Unmasking Cherokee Culture

Cherokee woodcarver and storyteller Davy Arch can't remember a time when he didn't have a pocketknife. "I was raised in a home," says Arch, "where we did all the cooking and heating with wood, so wood lore and tool use was just a natural thing that happened."

Like many Cherokee artists and artisans these days, Arch has fashioned a new life based on the resurgence of traditional Cherokee culture and its budding appeal to tourists who visit this town at the southern edge of the Great Smokies, whether for the mountain air and vistas or the more down-to-earth pleasures of Harrah's Cherokee Casino.

"I never knew a time when I wasn't making something," Arch continues. "I had an uncle who carved and I started out making stuff that was used around the house, like ax handles, basket handles, things like that. Then a man in the village taught me to carve masks."

For Arch, the masks, used in the old days as religious paraphernalia, are a direct link to the old culture. Cherokee masks originally came from another animist tribal tradition, the dance. Masks representing animals such as bear, buffalo and wildcat were used in the hunt dance. "They were used in the dances as a disguise for the dancer," says Arch. "The dances worked a lot like prayers. For example, we would dance the hunt dance tonight praying for success in the hunt. If the hunt was successful, we would do the same dance the next night in thanksgiving."

"Nowadays, I use them as props for storytelling. I make most of them out of buckeye." More than a mere prop, each mask is a work of art which both illustrates and augments Arch's natural gift as a storyteller. "I'll create a mask as a theme of a story or legend I've heard," says Arch. "Having that mask in hand, I can go before people and tell the story and talk about how it was used traditionally and how things have evolved today."

Cherokee lore is a rich mine of often obscure origin, which owes much to the tribe's long tradition of trade with both neighboring and distant cultures. Says Arch, "We did have legends of both oceans and both continents, North and South America, and traded a lot with other tribes." Some of the legends even have a resonance with the present day. "I've heard of times when people would leave the gardening to young people and old people, and the people would just take off to the beach on trading trips. The rivers were used a lot like highways."

Today, highways of a different sort have brought a brisk trade in new interpretations of Cherokee arts, whether it be masks created by Arch and other woodcarvers or pottery, basketry, weaving, stone carvings or other traditional handicrafts."There's a lot more pride in the culture today," Arch concludes. "Everyone today is interested in who they are and where they came from and how we got to where we are. And our arts express this."

Sampling the long and storied tradition of Cherokee culture is one of the many advantages visitors discover in experiencing the Great Smoky Mountains from the southern side. An abundance of artwork from the hands of many present day artists of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee may be seen and purchased at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Center in Cherokee. In addition, a fascinating interpretive display of Cherokee cultural history awaits at the New Museum of the Cherokee Indian.

Getting There: The city of Cherokee, North Carolina is at the southern edge of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Cherokee is accessible from I-40 (Exit 27) via Hwy 19-23 and Hwy 441 or by Hwy 441 south from Gatlinburg, TN.

added: December 4, 2008

updated: January 8, 2009