Bill Harris & Beckee Garris: 2026 S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series
Meet the Recipients
As the day nears for the 2026 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is shining the spotlight on this year’s recipients, introducing them to you in greater detail.
This is the schedule:
- April 29: Tammy Leach and Laurel Horton
- Today: Bill Harris and Beckee Garris
- May 5: ArtsNOW and Columbia Museum of Art
- May 7: Tiffany Reed Silverman and Dr. Richard O’Malley
- May 12: Ian Welch
Bill Harris | Governor’s Award, Artist Category
- McConnells, South Carolina
Harris
Bill Harris is a master Catawba clay artist, cultural leader, and lifelong advocate for the preservation and advancement of Catawba pottery—the oldest continuous art tradition in the United States. Born and raised within the Catawba Nation, Harris first learned the art of working with clay from his grandmother, Georgia Harris, one of the most celebrated Catawba potters of the 20th century. Her teachings laid the foundation for his deep commitment to sustaining the ancient practices of hand-dug clay, coil-built forms, burnishing, and wood-fired pottery that continue to define Catawba identity today.
A former chief of the Catawba Nation, Harris has long been recognized for contributions to tribal governance, cultural revitalization, and arts advocacy. His leadership has helped elevate Native voices statewide and regionally, ensuring that indigenous artists are included in major art initiatives. In recognition of his significant service, Harris received an honorary doctorate from Davidson College in 2025. He was a 2016 recipient of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, South Carolina’s highest honor for traditional artists, and a 2024 TapRoot Fellow, supporting his continued work to build cultural infrastructure for Native artists.
With more than 20 years of dedicated practice in clay, Harris has built upon generational knowledge while contributing new interpretations that honor ancestral techniques. His work often pushes the boundaries of Catawba pottery by incorporating artistic details such as bird effigies and sculptural elements, while still honoring traditional Catawba shapes such as the medicine bowl and other culturally significant forms. He founded Blue Heron Clay, a community-rooted studio that serves as both a creative and teaching space, and he helped establish the Georgia Harris Foundation to support cultural preservation, artist development, and public education about Catawba traditions.
Harris’s pottery is widely collected and exhibited. His work is held in permanent collections at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, Catawba Cultural Center, Native American Studies Center at the University of South Carolina Lancaster, McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia Museum of Art, and the Greenville County Museum of Art, among others. These placements speak to both his artistic mastery and the cultural significance of Catawba pottery.
Harris is also expanding his statewide impact through his work with ArtFields in Lake City, where he is helping develop programming that brings indigenous art to new audiences and ensures that Native artists are represented in one of South Carolina’s most visible art events.
A dedicated mentor, Harris has taught apprentices, family members, and emerging Catawba potters, ensuring that pottery remains a living, evolving tradition. Through artistry, teaching, institution-building, and cultural leadership, Bill Harris exemplifies the transformative power of art to preserve heritage, strengthen communities, and inspire future generations.
Beckee Garris | Folk Heritage Award, Artist, Catawba Pottery and Basketry
- Lancaster, South Carolina
Beckee Garris, by Mandy Catoe
Beckee Garris was born and raised on the Catawba Indian Reservation in Rock Hill. She is the granddaughter of former Catawba Indian Chief Albert H. Sanders, Sr. and the great-granddaughter of former Chief Samuel T. Blue.
She worked part-time for the Tribal Historic Preservation Office for the Catawba Indian Nation and part-time for the Native American Studies Center in Lancaster. She received her associate’s in arts degree in May 2017 through the Palmetto Program – University of South Carolina.
She considers her greatest accomplishment in life is being the mother of 3, grandmother of 6 and great-grandmother of 4.
She is a potter, basket maker who uses longleaf pine needles and other types of material, and traditional native storyteller. She served on the Catawba Language Committee to create a Catawba Dictionary syllabus in 2025.
She was selected to be among 21 Native American storytellers to be part of the book “Trickster, A Native American Trickster Tales.” In 2012 this book earned the Aesop Award for Children’s Literature and has recently gone into its second printing.
Her personal motto is: “If we don’t know where we come from, how do we know where we are going? And if we don’t know where we are going, how will we know if we get there?”
Watch the 2026 South Carolina Arts Awards Sunday, May 17 at 7 p.m. EDT.
The SCAC is excited to present its streaming presentation of the awards, which include new short films documenting the recipients made by talented South Carolina filmmakers.
Viewers can access it via the SCAC YouTube Channel, and it will also be streamed through the SCAC Facebook page. Internet-connected smart TV’s or streaming devices with the YouTube app may be used for a more broadcast-style experience.