Earlier this summer, two Western North Carolina artists completed and installed a new public sculpture at a park in Virginia.
Metalsmith William Rogers designed the work and created steel elements that support hammered copper panels made by Nathan Bush.
The two have worked before, designing and building collaborative sculptures for the Cherokee Indian Hospital and the Stecoah Valley Art Center.
The iron and copper sculpture, titled “Forest Shelter” — “Inage Galtsodv” in Cherokee — is now permanently installed at the High Knob Destination Center in Norton, Virginia. The sculpture is part of the Forest Botanicals Region Living Monument, which seeks to highlight the cultural, historical, ecological, and economic significance of Central Appalachia’s story of native medicinal herbs and forest foods.
The sculpture is a celebration of the relationships that Appalachian people have long held with forest botanicals. “Forest Shelter” is a forged iron archway holding four copper panels, each depicting a plant used in traditional Cherokee medicine.
Funded by Monuments Across Appalachian, the artist team was selected through a competitive application process early in 2024.
“All of the sculptors who applied were incredibly talented, but what made Rogers’ and Bush’s art stand out was the deep connection their craft holds to the history of the Forest Botanicals Region of Central Appalachia,” said Virginia Tech Sociology Professor Shannon Bell, who is the director of the monument project. “Our leadership team and advisory board thought that working with these artists would not only lead to a beautiful sculpture, but it could also add another layer of storytelling to the monument so that visitors could learn more about Indigenous cultures and traditions in the Appalachian region.”
The sculpture team of Rogers and Bush is revitalizing Cherokee copper craft, a tradition that is thousands of years old. Long before colonization, Cherokee people and other Indigenous groups mined copper and hammered the metal into sheets with stones. They created many items from this hammered copper, including tools, cooking utensils, arrow points and jewelry.
Rogers and Bush first met a decade ago, when Rogers began teaching copper workshops for Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal citizens through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to revitalize metalworking on the Qualla Boundary.
Rogers, who has received numerous awards and fellowships for excellence in creativity and craftsmanship, has always enjoyed teaching and mentorship. He has also created sculptures for Tuscola High School, Smokey Mountain Elementary and Cherokee Central Schools.
Describing his first visit to Rogers’ metal studio in Cullowhee, Bush recalled, “I was inspired by the history that we were learning from William — overwhelming inspiration. I wanted to do whatever I could to bring back a tradition that was no longer being practiced in Cherokee. That was the reason I got into copper.”