Mike Dart

Mike Dart is a Native American basket weaver and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, who lives in Oklahoma.

Background

Michael Dart was born on February 1, 1977, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He is based in Adair County, Oklahoma. Growing up, he watched his grandmother Pauline Dart weave baskets and build woven furniture from willow, hickory and other materials native to the land around her home. He took up basketry at age 16.

Basket weaving

Dart is a Cherokee artist, specializing in the art of double-wall basketry, a difficult technique involving the continuous weave of both an interior and exterior wall within each basket.

He learned the art of basketry in 1992 from weaver Shawna Morton-Cain, also a Cherokee National Treasure.

Dart's baskets often uses commercial rattan reed and brightly colored aniline dyes. However, he also gathers, processes, and weaves with local materials such as honeysuckle and buckbrush ('' Symphoricarpos orbiculatus''). He also uses natural dyes such as black walnut hulls, bloodroot, and Osage orange wood.

Using commercial materials permits him to experiment more freely, and there are certain colors he likes to use that cannot be obtained from local natural dyes. He defines the difference between traditional and contemporary as the following: "A Cherokee basket is classified as traditional if it is woven in a traditional way, and all the materials and dyed are natural. A Cherokee basket is classified as contemporary if it is woven in a traditional way using commercially manufactured materials and dyes. Some weavers will use both natural and commercial materials. This is called using 'mixed mediums' and it fits into the contemporary category."Coats, Charlotte. ''Weaving the Oklahoma Cherokee Double Wall Basket.'' Garden Grove, California: C. Coats: 2006. .

Image:Mikedart3.jpg, "War Cry" by Mike Dart
Image:Mikedart2.jpg, "Large Gathering Basket" by Mike Dart

Art career

Dart's baskets have earned prizes through northeastern Oklahoma including the Cherokee National Holiday Art Show in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Art Under the Oaks Art Show at the Five Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma and Trail of Tears Art Show and Sale at the Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, Oklahoma, which is one of the largest Native American art shows in the region. He also exhibits and has won recognition in Native American art markets nationally.

In 2017, Dart was designated a Cherokee National Living Treasure for the promotion, Perpetuation and Education of Cherokee Basketry to Cherokee Citizens. He received the award from former Principal Chief Bill John Baker.Cherokee basketry artist to be featured at Coffeyville gathering.
''News from Indian Country.'' 2008 (retrieved 23 May 2009)

Dart's work has been exhibited in the Cherokee National Museum during various art shows, and also in the Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, Oklahoma.

See also

*List of Native American artists
* List of Native American artists from Oklahoma
*Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas

References

External links

Mike Dart
Cherokee Artist's Association

"Cherokee Basket Weaving with Mike Dart"
''Osiyo TV''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dart, Mike
1977 births
Living people
Cherokee Nation male artists
People from Siloam Springs, Arkansas
Native American basket weavers
Weavers from Oklahoma
People from Adair County, Oklahoma
Weavers from Arkansas
21st-century American male artists
21st-century Native American artists
20th-century American artists
20th-century Native American artists