doering

Mavis Doering

Mavis Doering, who credits her basket weaving ability to her Cherokee Indian heritage, has won numerous awards for her artistic ability. Her works have been exhibited at the Southern Plains Indian Museum, Coulter Bay Indian Art Museum, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Museum of Fine Art at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Historical Society, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. She has also received commissions from the Oklahoma State Arts Council to complete 50 baskets which were presented to the Governors at the National Governor’s Conference in 1982 and in 1983 she received a commission to create the awards for the Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Awards. In 1984, she completed 72 baskets which were used in a promotional for the State of Oklahoma by Orbach’s stores.
She gathers materials for both her baskets and dyes on her Mother’s property in eastern Oklahoma and weaves her works of art into either double wall pieces (a method which is unique to her tribal people) or splint creations. Adding something original to the legacy of the past, she uses feathers, beads, pieces of wood or strips of leather to implement certain ideas and thoughts.

Materials which she uses for baskets include: Buckbrush, Reed, Honeysuckle, White Oak, Ash, Cane and Cattails. Substances used for dyes are Blueberry, Black Walnut hulls, Hickory hulls, Mulberry, Peach leaves, Sumac bark and root. Sassafras bark and root, Pokeberry, Bloodroot, Wild Plum leaves, Pecan hulls, Wild Cherry leaves, Almond hulls, Elderberry, and Huckleberry. She also utilizes aniline dyes.