Inspiration, History, and the Importance of Art Education – Lisa Rutherford

On this episode of Beyond the Art, we meet with Cherokee Nation citizen Lisa Rutherford. Lisa balances her creative time between clay arts and textile arts, including pottery, sculpture, eighteenth-century clothing, feather capes, southeast applique beadwork, and twined textiles.

Lisa has worked in many various art forms and mediums . She talks with us about her childhood and her reintroduction into art by Bill Glass and tells a about her career path and describes a few of the different types of art she does, like pottery, beadwork, and painting. Rutherford mentions some of the people who have influenced her and discusses a few of the projects she has worked on and her goals for future projects.

Her traditional pottery is made from native clay she digs and processes, hand-coils, and pit fires. She also makes the 18th century clothing and accessories that she wears for living history events, including trade shirts, leggings, wool wrap skirts, beadwork, twined bags, and is the only known Cherokee Nation artist making replicas of historic feather capes and mantles on a hand-tied net base. Oil painting is her latest endeavor, with a unique style that blends impressionism. In 2018, she was named a Cherokee National Treasure by the Cherokee Nation for her work in preserving and promoting Cherokee pottery and culture.