Carrie G. Lind

ABOUT

Carrie G. Lind studies and creates Southeast/Woodland hand-built pottery. Using clay she finds on her Cherokee allotment in White Oak, Oklahoma and hometown of Vinita, she hand processes the clay she uses to make her pottery. She then hand-coils, builds, and open-fires the work. Lind’s pots reflect her Cherokee and Shawnee ancestry and draws inspiration from the techniques of her esteemed teachers and mentors.

Through her creative practice, Lind contributes to reclaiming and reinvigorating her culture so that, as a people, they can leave their contemporary mark on tribal history. As a busy mother, she takes every available opportunity throughout her day to develop her pottery practice. She also teaches to reconnect other Native women to pottery, as a way to revitalize and protect traditional practices. She says, “I feel that this gift is not mine, but one I am obligated to share with my people.”

PROJECT

Lind’s LIFT project, 7 Directions / 7 Conversations / 7 Actions / 7 Pots, organizes seven conversations with spiritual leaders from tribes across Turtle Island, honoring each of the seven directions, filming them as part of a documentary. After responsibly sourcing local clay from ancestral tribal lands, she will memorialize each conversation in a new pot.

I make pottery to keep alive the traditions of my ancestors and introduce them to new
generations of Native people. I am helping reclaim and reinvigorate our culture so that we, as a people, can leave our current mark on history in the clay, just as we always have.

—Carrie G. Lind (Cherokee Nation/Shawnee)