Event to bask in creations of basket makers

When the Maine Indian basket makers are assembled it behooves those who love the art to hie themselves north to Orono for the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance sale, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Student Recreation and Fitness Center, Hilltop Road, University of Maine. The event, eagerly anticipated each year, is held under the auspices of the university’s Hudson Museum. At the event, visitors get to view the work of some of the most talented basket makers in Maine and to learn about Maine Indians, culture and art.

The event is free and open to the public 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Early-bird shopping is available 9-10 a.m. for a $10 fee.

At the event, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot artists show and sell their work. Organizers say it is one of the largest American Indian gatherings of its type in Maine.

Collectors seeking finely made baskets and those looking for something as utilitarian as a pack basket often travel from throughout New England for the annual sale of Maine Indian baskets and crafts.

Visitors to the show will find sweet grass baskets, fishing creels, potato-picker baskets, and strawberry-shaped baskets, to name only a very few.

Porcupine quill jewelry, wood carvings, birch-bark items and other art also will be on display and available for purchase.

Demonstrators at the event will show how to transform a brown ash log into a basket, and how to make root clubs and walking sticks.

Members of the Penobscot Girls and Boys Club will prepare and serve hull corn soup, fry bread and blueberry desserts from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Burnurwurbskek Singers will perform 2-3 p.m., and throughout the day dancers will present many traditional dances.

Kelly Demmons will open the show by singing a traditional song of greeting.

Greetings also will be proffered from Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis, the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance and the University of Maine.

Passamaquoddy Allan Sockabasin and Penobscot Charles Shay will have their books for available for purchase and signing until 11:30 a.m.

Demmons will sing Penobscot songs and John Bear Mitchell of the university’s Wabanaki Center will tell traditional stories.

The Hudson Museum will raffle a brown ash Katahdin Butterfly basket made by Fred Tomah of the Maliseets, said Gretchen Faulkner, director of the Hudson Museum. Raffle tickets are $5 each and available at the Maine Center for the Arts box office in the Class of 1944 Hall, the Wabanaki Arts Center Gallery in Old Town and at the event.

For more information, call the Hudson Museum at 581-1901.

Snippets

Basket lovers won’t want to miss “Weaving Traditions of the Darien Jungle: The Basket Collection of Chuck and Pat McLure” on display through March 14 at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. The baskets, the work of the Wounaan and Embera Indians of Panama, are woven of natural and dyed palm tree fibers. For more information, call the museum at 288-3519 or visit www.abbemuseum.org.

Those who enjoy the art of hooked rugs and other works by hand are invited to view new work by rug hooker Rosemary Levin, etchings of Schoodic Point by Acadia National Park fall 2007 artist-in-residence Tim Merrick, organic box constructions by artist Margo Klass and watercolor and ink painting by artist Gina Knight at The Corea Rug Hooking Co. and Accumulated Books Gallery in Corea. The exhibit will be on display 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Monday through December.

Make a snowman wall hanging in the Bangor Area Sewing Guild class set for 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Hampden Municipal Building. The wall hanging is 12 inches square and constructed with piecing and applique techniques. It can be made quickly and easily. The cost is $10 members, $15 others. To register for the class or to obtain more information, call Kathy Childs at 941-8815.

Clara Parkes, author of “The Knitter’s Book of Yarn” and creator of the Web site www.knittersreview.com, will sign copies of her book 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at String Theory in Blue Hill.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.