Victoria Mitchell learned traditional southeastern woodlands style pottery making seventeen years ago from her mother, Anna Sixkiller Mitchell, a full blood Cherokee, who revived the art for the Cherokee Tribe in Oklahoma, over the last 35 years. Although Victoria didn't begin showing and selling her pottery until 1998, she says, "I feel as if this is what I was meant to do. I love digging the clay, creating new things and carrying on the tradition my mother started."

A native Oklahoman, Victoria lives on a cattle ranch with her husband, Bruce Vazquez,  near Welch, Oklahoma. She finds and digs the clay used to create her pottery vessels and sculptures. She does all her work by hand, using the coil method, rather than a potter's wheel. Like her ancestors, Victoria uses natural, "found" items as tools for pottery making. These include river cane sticks, smooth river stones, bone utensils, horn scrapers, gourd necks and hand made paddles.

Victoria teaches pottery workshops for Cherokee, Creek, Miami and Quapaw tribes in Oklahoma. She has given workshops for private groups at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, and the University of California, at Davis. She continues the research her mother started, by visiting museums and mound sites. Victoria is an avid reader and collector of books on Indian history and arts.

Currently her work is on exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian, 4th floor, Smithsonian Mall. She has several works in the permanent collection of University of Arkansas, Little Rock. She sells her work at the Department of the Interior's Indian Craft Shop in Washington D.C., at Buffalo Sun in Miami, OK and directly from her home studio in Welch. Victoria has won awards for her pottery at the Santa Fe Indian Market, at the Eiteljorg Five Tribes Museum Art Fair in Muskogee,  at the Indian Summer Festival in Bartlesville, and she won Best of Division-Pottery at Red Earth Festival, Oklahoma City, OK in June 2007.


This Spring, Victoria conducted two-day pottery workshops for the Advanced Art classes. She was assisted by Claudia Barbee. Both graduated from VHS in the class of 1967.

Mr. Groves commented on the sessions that, " Victoria was very well received by the students. Her workshops stimulated so much interest in working with clay that after she left the students chose to continue that work rather than return to their previous projects."

Vinita High School thanks Victoria and Claudia for sharing their talents with our student artists. Please come again.