Google honors woodcarver Amanda Crowe with a new Doodle

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating Eastern Band Cherokee Indian woodcarver Amanda Crowe in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

Google's homepage features an animated video about Crowe that shows high-resolution images of her real-life wood sculptures which are housed near her hometown at the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual in North Carolina.

The video was made with help from the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual and Crowe's nephew and former student, William 'Bill' H. Crowe, Jr.

"I carve because I love to do it. The movement of the grain, they almost seem alive under your hands and the beautiful tones and textures all add life to the figures you whittle," Crowe is quoted as saying in the video.

Crowe, born in 1928, began drawing and carving around the age of four. She studied under her uncle Goingback Chiltoskey, also a woodcarver.

She earned a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1946 where Crowe learned to work with plaster, stone, and metal but, she still always preferred to work with wood. Crowe would go on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree and study under renowned sculptor Jose de Creeft in Mexico before returning to North Carolina.

Crowe then established a studio in her community and taught art classes at Cherokee High School, teaching 2,000 students over 40 years.

Crowe is credited with creating a resurgence of Cherokee carving. Her work has been showcased at the High Museum in Atlanta and at the Mint Museum in Charlotte.