By using only the carvings in my collection, I am limited in the scope of my exhibit. This happens to museum curators when they are creating exhibits, as well. They are limited to the scope of the museum's collection unless they can pursue a loan from other institutions. With those loans they might not have the rights to use photos of the objects in an online exhibit, though.
For example, Amanda Crowe was the artist who popularized the Eastern Cherokee woodcarving tradition and taught almost all of the Eastern Cherokee artists who carved after her (or taught the people who taught them). Unfortunately I do not have any of her carvings in my collection because they are much too expensive. So, though I will speak about her work throughout the exhibit, I will not be able to include photos of her work. There are a few photos of her available in the public domain through the National Archives that I will probably use.
There has been very little scholarly literature written about these artists, and all of the carvers created their works within the past 50-70 years, so there is not much information in electronic databases that I will be using. Western Carolina University has created a wonderful website with information about Eastern Cherokee artists, and this will be my main source for information for the exhibits. It is called "Cherokee Traditions: From the Hands of Our Elders" (https://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeeTraditions/People/Carvers_AmandaCrowe.html).
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