Caroleen Sanders: S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series
Folk Heritage Award: Artist Category
As the day nears for the 2025 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is shining the spotlight on this year’s six recipients, introducing them to you in greater detail.
This is the schedule:
- Governor’s Award for the Arts
- April 29: Dr. Gail V. Barnes (Individual Category)
- May 1: Koger Center for the Arts (Government Category)
- May 6: Wade Sellers (Artist Category)
- May 8: Engaging Creative Minds (Arts in Education Category)
- May 13: Sumter County Gallery of Art (Organization Category)
- Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
- Today: Caroleen Sanders (Artist Category)
Mary “Caroleen” Sanders
Mary “Caroleen” Sanders (2025) was an artist who made traditional Catawba pottery, the oldest known artform of the Catawba Nation that dates back more than 6,000 years. As many Catawbas before her, Sanders learned to make Catawba pottery watching her mother, Verde Harris Sanders, work with clay. She leaned on the techniques learned from her mother, honoring the tradition while also taking it to new heights.
Sanders only began working with pottery herself in the early 1990s. Despite only starting pottery in her late adulthood, she quickly mastered the artform to become a master potter and exceptional artist, transforming the traditional shapes and basic pots of the past to truly magnificent pieces of art. She is known for her intricate sculpting and fine burnishing techniques used to make animals come to life in her pottery. Some of her most impressive pieces feature snakes wrapped artfully around the rims of pitchers and bowls.
Her pottery is featured in many museums in the state and beyond. One was donated to Catawba Nation Archives as a legacy piece of her work. An exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art showcased other talents; several busts Sanders completed of other Catawbas on display. The busts highlight Sanders’ unique, high level of artistry—no other Catawba artist has created images of people out of Catawba clay.
Within the Catawba community and among the public at-large, Sanders will long be known as a master Catawba potter. She was highly sought after by the community as a teacher and demonstrator. She was the artist-in-residence at the Native American Studies Center in Lancaster and she frequently taught classes, always full, at the Catawba Cultural Center where other Catawba citizens learned from her wisdom and personal techniques. She worked as a mentor to apprentice potters to pass her knowledge on so that this traditional artform continues through the generations.
Editor’s note
Nominees for the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award and the South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts must be living at the time of their nominations. In February, S.C. Arts Commission Executive Director David Platts had the honor of enjoying a phone conversation with Sanders, during which he informed her that her nomination was approved and she would receive the Folk Heritage Award. Shortly thereafter, the SCAC learned of her passing. With gratitude for her artistic legacy, the SCAC offers sincere condolences once again to her family and the Catawba Nation for their loss, which is also a loss to all who call South Carolina home.
Watch the South Carolina Arts Awards this Sunday (May 18) at 7 p.m. EDT.
The SCAC is excited to present a streaming presentation of the awards in 2025!
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.