Exhibition highlights shared basketry traditions of Cherokee, Muscogee and Yuchi peoples

By Shayln Proctor

Original reporting credited to “Native Baskets at Philbrook: Welana Queton curates interwoven history and artistry,” published Dec. 29, 2025

TULSA, Okla. — An exhibition highlighting the shared history and artistry of basketmakers from the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) and Yuchi peoples is on display at the Philbrook Museum of Art through Feb. 8.

Photo Courtesy: Welana Queton

Titled Interwoven: Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) and Yuchi Baskets, the exhibition draws from the museum’s permanent collection and explores both historical and contemporary basketry traditions rooted in the tribes’ ancestral homelands in the southeastern United States, including present-day North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.

The exhibition was curated by Welana Queton, Mellon Fellow for Native Art at Philbrook. She said the title reflects both the shared artistic traditions of the three tribes and their interconnected presence in Tulsa today.

“Interwoven is a historical and contemporary basket exhibition from the Cherokee, Mvskoke and Yuchi people who share the ancestral homelands of the Southeast,” Queton said. “They also share the classical art of basketmaking.”

The baskets were selected over a three-month period and required consultation and approval from the source tribes in accordance with the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, known as NAGPRA.

“People have to give approval to show their material cultural items in museums,” Queton said. “That includes consulting with all of the tribes.”

Among the institutions consulted was the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, which conducted an on-site consultation. Other consultations were completed remotely.

The exhibition includes rare Yuchi baskets that Queton said are seldom seen in museum collections, including two sifter baskets made around 1875 by Yuchi basketmakers George and Fannie Fulsom. The baskets show extensive repairs, reflecting their use in everyday food preparation.

“These are actually the oldest baskets in the exhibition,” Queton said. “One is heavily repaired with cotton strips, showing how important it was in daily life.”

Because baskets are made of organic materials, they are often difficult to display for extended periods and are frequently housed in archaeological or storage collections, Queton said.

Beyond craftsmanship, the exhibition emphasizes the cultural and ceremonial significance of basketry, including its role in traditional foodways and ceremonies such as the Green Corn Ceremony observed by Muscogee and Yuchi communities.

Queton said the exhibition also reflects broader efforts to ensure Native communities are represented within regional museum spaces and to provide cultural context that may not be immediately visible to non-Native audiences.

Interwoven: Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) and Yuchi Baskets runs through Feb. 8 at Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road.