Artist: Mel Cornshucker
Mel Cornshucker had planned to be a tribal lawyer, then a ceramics class changed the direction of his life. Working with clay appealed to him so much that he quit school and went to Silver Dollar City to be potter. A member of the Cherokee Tribe, Cornshucker has always been surrounded by art. His grandfather, Lincoln Trotting Wolf, wove rugs until he was 95 years old. His other grandfather was a stonemason and his father was a silversmith. Cornshucker teaches pottery classes for both children and adults and says that teaching sparks his creative energy, making him a better artist. He is currently involved in a cultural exchange program with artists from South Africa, sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation. The goal is to help the indigenous people there promote their arts and crafts internationally. His work has been shown at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Gilcrease Museum and featured in the Coldwater Creek catalogue. He has participated in shows in New York, Seattle, Indianapolis, Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago.