Clara Neptune Keezer (1930-2016), from the Passamaquoddy Tribe, learned the art of basketmaking at the age of eight from her mother and grandmother.
As an adult, she kept the art of fancy basketmaking alive during hard economic times. Despite loss of access to markets and resources, Keezer held onto basketmaking traditions, made innovations in designs, and taught basketmaking to many of the younger generations. Clara Keezer was recognized for her artistry and was a 2002 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship.
This Penobscot open sewing basket is made with an ornamental weave called porcupine curls because of the sharp points created by twisting the weavers or horizontal splints. The technique was developed about 1860.
Acorn basket by Margaret or Pauline Shay, Portland, 1923
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society/MaineToday Media
Margaret Shay taught her daughter, Pauline how to weave ash baskets, a profession handed down through generations of Penobscot basketmakers.
The acorn form of this basket, known as a "fancy basket" was popular with the markets. Baskets made by the Shays were featured in the October 7, 1923 newspaper relating to a story about freedom from religion in schools on Indian Island.
Wabanaki beadwork designs, especially those with three leaf floral motifs, often represent medicinal plants.
People kept small pouches close to their body—in a pocket or worn as a necklace, and sometimes filled with herbs—to promote healing. While some designs are obvious, like a curled-up fiddlehead or a blueberry, others are more abstract.
Walter James “Jim” Tomah (1922-1996), a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseets, was a master basketmaker who specialized in utilitarian baskets. He was a mentor to generations of younger basketmakers.
Fred Tomah started making baskets in the 1960s and apprenticed with master Maliseet basketmaker Jim Tomah in 1990. Although he made potato baskets in his youth, he went on to specializes in twill weaving, taking utilitarian baskets into the art realm.
The four corners of the Katahdin series basket represents the four tribes of the Wabanaki-- the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot.
A 13th generation Passamaquoddy basket weaver, Gabriel Frey learned to weave from his grandfather, Fred Moore. In 1998, when Moore was diagnosed with emphysema, Frey went to stay with and learn from him at Sipayik. Then 18, Frey learned how to prepare ash and make tools, and pack baskets.
Frey specializes in utility baskets of all sizes, most recently pushing the traditional art form into new realms of functional wearable art pieces, like this purse. Gabriel Frey has won numerous awards, including a 2019 United States Artists fellowship.
Log carriers like this, often with finely etched designs, could have been found in many turn-of-the-century homes in Maine. Pieces created by Joseph Nicholas typically included detailed animals, plants and people, illustrating traditional Passamaquoddy life.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Native Americans were pressured to reject their own cultures in favor of European culture. Instead many Native American communities found ways to incorporate their cultures into the changing world around them. One way in which this was done was to sell goods that were created using traditional Native American methods and with traditional Native American decorations or motifs.
While this, turn of the century, etched model canoe is not signed, the animals and plants depicted on it are virtually identical to those on log carriers made by Joe Nicholas that are in the Abbe Museum's collection.
Since the 19th century there have been several Joe Nicholas' in the Passamaquoddy community. It is unknown which Joe Nicholas may have done this work. However, often work that is most likely to be by Nicholas can be found attributed to, the more famous Passamaquoddy birchbark artist, Tomah Joseph.
Until around 1990, artists didn't sign their baskets, and the collectors usually didn’t record the names of the artists.
Historically, tourists didn’t view the baskets as artwork, but rather as a memento of a nostalgic encounter with another culture, to recall trips to places like Bar Harbor or Indian Island, or as décor and useful objects in the large summer “cottages” on the coast.
Penobscot button basket by Theresa Lyon Sockalexis, ca. 1934
Item Contributed by
Hudson Museum, Univ. of Maine
Penobscot Indian Theresa Camilla Lyon Sockalexis made this button basket, part of a set of sewing baskets that includes a needle case, thimble holder, pin cushion and scissors case in addition to this basket.
She was well known for her fine basketwork.
Though this porcupine-weave basket has been attributed to Molly Molasses (or Mary Pelagie, 1775-1867), it is not certain that she made it. But, it is known that Molly Molasses sold a variety of Penobscot-made wares around Bangor and Brewer through the first part of the 19th century.
A porcupine weave is made by folding and pinching the splints so that they created spikey points. Molasses was known to have done this to create a visual interest and make the basket appear more fancy.
Mary Pealgie Nicola, also known as Molly Molasses was a Penobscot woman who was born about 1775. Molasses lived until the age of 92 and had a reputation in the Bangor area for fine work. She was painted, photographed and written about in books and local newspapers. Her baskets were considered to be art rather than souvenirs.
Large covered baskets like this were used to pack hats and other clothing for travel and storage.
While during this time, traditional utility baskets made by Native Americans continued to be popular, "fancy baskets" or baskets with whimsical shapes, intricate weave patterns, or multiple colors became very popular and were made to fit every imaginable need.
Rocky Keezer, from the Passamaquoddy Tribe, learned to weave from his mother, Clara Neptune Keezer, who in turn learned to weave from her parents and grandparents.
As Native and non-Native cultures interacted, Wabanaki artists created new and exciting designs to meet the tourist market, including glove boxes, sewing accessories, powder dispensers, and wall pockets—sometimes in fanciful shapes like acorns and strawberries.
This basket was created in the shape of a hat, and is a powder dispenser, complete with a puff inside.
Although historic baskets aren’t signed, retroactive artist attribution can sometimes be from the form, and because most artists have a "signature style" that defines their work.
The familial basket block, artistic style, and photographic evidence, help attribute this barrel basket to Maliseet artist Philomene Saulis Nelson. Nelson was originally from Tobique, Canada, and moved to Indian Island after marrying Horace Nelson of the Penobscot Nation.
Marie Bibeau Masta, (1887-1983) was Abenaki, from the Odanak Band in Canada. Later in life, she moved to Portland. She was well known for her basketry skills, and made this miniature sweetgrass basket to hold sewing needles.
This Penobscot glove box has an unusual decorative curl treatment, apparently used only in the late 1800s.
The basket was made to hold the elbow- or three-quarter-length gloves fashionable at the time.
After the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution brought newfound wealth to the nation. Summer resorts such as Bar Harbor boomed and Wabanaki basketmakers found an eager and concentrated market for their wares.
Fancy baskets were invented and Native weavers responded to market demand to create a wide variety of baskets for the tourist trade. These baskets were smaller, more portable and highly decorated. Recognizing the Victorian taste for elaborate decor, basketmakers created fancy baskets decorated with elegant handles, complex twisted weaves, sweetgrass and dyed splints.
This form of basket is referred to as a "band" basket from the brightly colored splints used in the piece.
Cadmium yellow, iron oxide red, Prussian blue and indigo were swabbed onto the exterior surface of the splints only. Such commercially produced pigments were costly and used sparingly.
Band baskets were destined for home use to store hats, clothes or linen, or for use in travel as "suitcases."
This ash and sweet grass napkin ring is one of the wide variety of household and personal items crafted by Wabanaki artisans around the turn of the century to appeal to Victorian consumers.
There are several steps to harvesting and preparing ash and sweet grass for making into baskets and other items. The ash tree is first cut into sections and the bark is removed. The the end of the logs are pounded into split the wood along the tree rings. Each ring is then sliced into long, thin strips, or splints, of various thicknesses. Once the sprints are soaked and sanded they can be woven into whatever item the weaver desires.
Sweet grass is harvested, optimally before the fist frost and is left to dry in the sun until it is dry and brittle. Before use the weaver soaks the dried sweet grass in warm water until it becomes pliable and then is braided before it is woven into a basket or other item.
Penobscot scissors case by Theresa Lyon Sockalexis, ca. 1934
Item Contributed by
Hudson Museum, Univ. of Maine
Penobscot Indian Theresa Camilla Lyon Sockalexis of Indian Island made fancy baskets, including this scissors case that was part of a sewing set.
She was renowned for her basket work.
