Amanda McCoy

Amanda McCoy is a self-taught beadwork artist from the Birdtown community.  She took up this craft at 22 years old after looking at some beadwork and said to herself she might be able to do this and tried it.  Amanda maintains we have a duty to keep our arts and culture alive so the next generations can both learn and appreciate them.  If we do nothing then those crafts will die with us. 

Amanda has taught classes on beadwork along with teaching her daughter Phoenix McCoy, nephew CJ Smith, and two of her best friends.  Her beadwork has won ribbons at the Cherokee Fall Festival and she was honored to bead gavels for the National Native American Bar Association.