John,
Thank you for mentioning my display.
I found the print of Cherokee Indians during the Trail of Tears journey about a year ago. It depicts an event during the forced removal from their homeland to the "Indian Territories" in what is now Arkansas and Oklahoma per the Removal Act of 1830. The print is from a painting by Troy Anderson a Cherokee Indian artist. When I saw it I immediately thought "Winter Silhouette". It depicts a group of Cherokee on a North Carolina mountain ridge in the winter with the moon rising, while they watch.
From that print the elements of the display were chosen. Everything in the display is of American origin except for the little spot light that was made in China. The tree is a Laurel Oak, native to the SE US. Pot by Sara Raynor, planting medium is all American ingredients. American made display table made of quarter sawn white oak. The accent slab is a piece of hickory bark that a beaver cut down on the mill pond where I live. You don't see mosses, usually, on mountain ridges in the winter so instead I planted small withered grasses and plants, as you do see, gathered in the woods in the pot with the tree.
The pottery holding the accent plant is a Cherokee Indian owl pot made by Paulette Bigmeat a member of a well known Cherokee pottery family. In the Cherokee legends about the formation of the earth there was a problem. During the day when the work was being done everything was fine, but at night the evil ones come out and roam the earth. They would destroy the good work that was being done during the day. So, it was decided that the owl and panther could see at night and they were appointed to watch over the earth at night to stop the evil ones from doing harm. Since the print is a night scene I chose the owl pot to hold the accent to keep the evil ones from tampering with things.
The small spot light shining on the tree was to mimic moonlight on the tree and it produced a shadow on the white backdrop of the display. The "Winter Silhouette" theme of the exhibition.