Sale stars Maine baskets

ORONO – Three dozen Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance artists and artisans are preparing for the annual holiday basket and art sale and demonstration 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine.

The day is a showcase for centuries of Wabanaki culture and tradition with exhibits, music, demonstrations, discussions and tribal cuisine.

“There will be activities, demonstrations, vendors and food throughout the day. This event attracts people from Maine and also people from around the country come to the museum to meet Maine Indian artists,” said Hudson Museum Director Gretchen Faulkner.

The event is free and open to the public. Early bird shopping will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. for a $10 admission fee.

The museum and basket makers alliance teamed up to hold the first basket and art sale 10 years ago as a way to promote an awareness and appreciation of Maine Indian culture and traditions. It also provides visitors an opportunity to purchase one-of-a-kind brown ash splint and sweet grass baskets, carvings, jewelry and birch bark work of Wabanaki artists, all with a backdrop of traditional singing and drumming and a sampling of native foods.

The Wabanaki Confederacy was the original body that united Maine’s four major Indian tribes, the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes.

The Basketmakers Alliance has about 70 members. They concentrate on basket sales and demonstrations of Maine’s oldest art form at three annual events.

The holiday sale at the Hudson Museum is second in size only to the summer gathering and sale at the Native American Festival at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, said Jennifer Neptune, manager of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance office and Wabanaki Arts Center gallery in Old Town. The third major basket and art sale is held at the Common Ground Fair in Unity in September.

Since 1990, the Maine Arts Commission has awarded more than 85 Maine Indian basketry apprenticeships to support the future of the craft. Basket makers make special fancy baskets for this show, Neptune said, because they know it is close to Christmas and the Wabanaki art and baskets make exceptional holiday gifts.

“We have someone who drives up from New York City if the weather is good and we’ve had people fly in from Chicago just for this show because they know the artists and basket makers will be there.”

The nearly 40 vendors scheduled to participate this year include painters, carvers, photographers, beadworkers and wreath makers, in addition to men and women who hand-weave both fancy baskets and utility baskets of all shapes and sizes.

The baskets, ranging in price from $20 to more than $1,000, are sold by the artists who made them.

Handmade Maine Indian baskets are generally not available at traditional retail outlets, said Faulkner. “These are not mass-produced items, and it’s not like you can go into a crafts store and buy materials to make a basket,” she said.

The annual UMaine basket and art sale “is a wonderful collaboration between the alliance and the museum. It’s an opportunity to learn about Maine Indian people and culture … and you’re acquiring art directly from the artists,” she said.

Making a basket from a log of Maine brown ash is labor-intensive work, Neptune said. “They pound every square inch of that log to separate the growth rings and get the splints to lift up,” she said. “They just keep pounding and pounding. It’s an incredible amount of work just to prepare the splints – pounding, splitting, scraping with a knife and gauging.”

All vendors, artists and performers are required to be members of one of Maine’s four federally recognized tribes to ensure that the cultural activities and products sold are authentic.

The following is the program of the day’s events:

. Early bird shopping, 9-10 a.m., $10. Tickets available from the Hudson Museum Shop, 581-1903.

. Welcome, 10 a.m., by the host tribe the Penobscot Nation and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance.

. Brown ash pounding, 10:30-11:00 a.m., by Eldon Hanning, Micmac; 11:00 a.m.-12 p.m., by Jeremy and Gabe Frey, Passamaquoddy.

. Flute music, 11 a.m., with Hawk Henries, eastern woodland flute maker.

. Traditional food, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., in the Bodwell Area. Hull corn soup, fry bread and blueberry desserts will be served. Food sales benefit the Penobscot Nation Boys and Girls Club.

. Traditional drumming and singing, 1:30-2:30 p.m., by the Burnurwurbskek Singers.

For information, call 581-1901 or visit www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/index.php.