Crowe, Amanda, 1928-2004

Crowe was born in 1928 and raised within a 56,000-acre territory of North Carolina, known as the Qualla Boundary, which is held in trust by the U.S. government specifically for Crowe's tribe of woodcarvers.

A federally recognized Native American tribe, the Eastern Band Cherokee are descended from a small group of 800 individuals who remained in the eastern United States after the Indian Removal Act forced more than 125,000 to move west in the 19th century.

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Google's doodle team put together a video showcasing the legacy of Eastern Band Cherokee Indian artist Amanda Crowe, beloved for her smooth, intricate animal woodcarvings.

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, today’s video Doodle celebrates Eastern Band Cherokee Indian woodcarver and educator Amanda Crowe, a prolific artist renowned for her expressive animal figures. Led by Doodler Lydia Nichols, the Doodle was created in collaboration with the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual as well as William “Bill” H. Crowe, Jr., woodcarver and nephew and former student of Amanda Crowe. Aside from highlighting Crowe’s own words and passion for her craft, the Doodle features high resolution imagery of Amanda’s true works housed in her homeland at Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, the nation’s oldest American Indian cooperative. The music is also an original composition by her nephew, Bill.

An enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, Amanda Crowe was born in Murphy, North Carolina to an Anglo mother and Cherokee father. She was only four and a half years old when she began to draw and to carve. “I was barely big enough to handle a knife,” she said, “but I knew what I wanted to do—I guess it was part of my heritage.” Carving was something that Crowe grew up with; her brothers, Bill and Richard Crowe were both carvers. In grade school, she studied with her uncle, Goingback Chiltoskey. Betty Dupree, former manager of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, remembered her as a schoolgirl with a knife in her hand. “She carried a knife to school, and I was so scared of her. Later on, I figured out she was carving even then.” By the time Crowe was eight years old, she was selling small carvings of her own.

Crowe’s most recognizable sculptures, which she made between the 1950s and her death in 2004, reflect her affinity for fauna. For over 50 years, she whittled and smoothed blocks of wood into squirrels, quails, bulls, and acrobatic bears, imbuing them all with personality. But as much as she loved animals, Crowe also made art as a means to connect with people—and preserve her Cherokee community’s carving traditions in the process.

Like many traditional artists, Cherokee carver Amanda Crowe first learned her craft by watching others. She was drawing and carving by the age of four, and she was selling her carvings of animals and birds by the age of eight. “I was barely big enough to handle a knife,” she says, “but I knew what I wanted to do so I just whittled away. I guess it was part of my heritage.”