Born and raised in New Orleans, musician and luthier Dixie Michell’s design sensibility grew from a childhood passion for building award- winning model airplanes and repairing broken string instruments. After a career in the Nashville music industry, she first came to Tulsa to play billiards professionally. Dixie’s skill as a craftswoman went beyond constructing mandolins and guitars; she rebuilt her home in Tulsa from the ground up, adding rooms, removing walls, and installing a large stained- glass window found at a flea market in Texas. When not behind a cue or plucking strings, Dixie made pets of feral cats and wild birds and spent time with her most devoted companion, a Labrador retriever-mix named Scrapper.

Special thanks to Jared Tyler and David Rain. Originally published in This Land: Fall 2015.