Born of a renaissance in Cherokee arts and culture, the Cherokee Arts Institute is geared up to begin classes this September. A branch of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., the Cherokee school will be one of 16 campuses nationwide to focus on contemporary art in a tribal setting.

The description may bring rise to the question — just what exactly is contemporary Native American art, as the words Native American art stereotypically conjure images of wolves, buffalo, beadwork and baskets. But Cherokee institute organizers are quick to dispel this notion.

“We’re talking about art for Native Americans, not Native American art,” said Cherokee Institute Project Manager and Cherokee High School art teacher James Smith.

In other words, heritage does not hem in style. It may seem an almost ridiculous concept to explain — akin to saying Van Gogh, being Dutch, may have been expected to paint no more than windmills and wooden shoes — yet, this explanation is opening doors.

“The idea of a tribal college has been bounced around for years and because of various factors it hasn’t been successful,” Smith said.

Economically speaking, the tribe didn’t have the money. That changed with the opening of Harrah’s Casino. Politically, leaders were not yet ready and other major educational institutions such as Western Carolina University, Southwestern Community College, the University of North Carolina at Asheville and Mars Hill College provided most courses of study.

“The one thing they can’t offer is the Native perspective,” Smith said.

The IAIA approached tribal leaders with the idea of creating a Cherokee branch campus, a school that would draw from the Institute’s mission to preserve, study, creatively apply and contemporarily express American Indian and Alaska Native arts and cultures. The partnering was ideal — the IAIA had identified the southeastern region of the country as being underserved, and one of the IAIA’s original co-founders, Lloyd Kiva New, was Cherokee himself.

Tribal council members commissioned a feasibility study of the project in 2002 and work began to inventory reservation resources such as potential classroom space, joint study opportunities, how much it would cost and what the future might look like.

Though a formal agreement with IAIA has yet to be signed, plans are for two, part-time evening classes with approximately 20 students each to be held at Cherokee High School beginning in September. Development of the institute is scheduled in phases, gradually increasing class sizes to 50 to 75 students. At that time dormitory style housing would be built, however, Smith said that may be 10 years down the road.

The timeline is tentative, based largely on licensing from the UNC system.

“If we don’t have the license back on Sept. 1, then guess what?” Smith said, trailing off.

No license, no classes. Each IAIA campus is fully accredited, with the main branch in Santa Fe offering four-year degrees in Studio Arts, Visual Communication, Creative Writing and Museum Studies.

The Cherokee Institute will offer an associate’s degree in fine art. Plans are to incorporate the Museum Studies program, drawing from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Cherokee Heritage Museum and Gallery. Students may transfer to another, larger branch to finish their studies.

“In the future we hope to offer everything that IAIA has,” Smith said.

The Cherokee Institute, like all IAIA campuses, will be open to all art students, tribal members or not. However, enrollment is weighted toward the Native population, so that Native students take priority. Also, approximately 60 percent of IAIA instructors on the Santa Fe campus are Native American.

Now, with the Cherokee tribal council’s commissioned feasibility report finished — Smith presented council members with a summary during Thursday’s (Feb. 3) council meeting — and a resolution of support and funding under way, area artists are catching the buzz.

“There’s a lot of local talk about the institute and how it will affect the evolution of the town,” said Davy Arch, a Cherokee storyteller and traditional artist.

Cherokee, like many Western North Carolina towns, has embarked on an urban renewal movement to clean up storefronts and improve the aesthetics of its retail district. It is also focusing on high-dollar environmental and heritage tourism, and turning what was once a novelty into a cultural mecca.

The movement began with the realization that with the rise of pop culture the great American melting pot was resulting in a homogenization of cultures, Arch said.

“We’re having to really focus on traditional arts because of a change in our lifestyle,” Arch said.

The availability of modern housing had broken up the traditional family structure and customs were being lost. As a result, younger members of the tribe couldn’t speak their native language.

“We’re just a step away from being just like the Lumbees,” said Bo Taylor, the archivist at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian.

The trick was to find a way to balance the new with the old.

“Children are hard to influence as far as doing something like this, they have to want to do it,” said wood carver and musician William H. Crowe Jr., gesturing toward a basket-making class being held at the Qualla Arts Co-Op.

Using funding garnered from casino revenue, Cherokee leaders reintroduced their native language via the classroom. The hope is that students’ studying of the language will spawn a connection between generations. Traditional crafts have made a comeback thanks to both their increasing value and heritage preservation. And mixing technology with tradition, a local group shot a video explaining how to harvest rivercane — a basket-making fiber.

The Cherokee Institute, even with its focus on the contemporary, will provide similar opportunities for traditional instruction. For example, a ceramics class may include a week’s study of traditional Cherokee pottery making, Smith said.

“There are several ways to work with that,” Smith said.