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For Jason and Donna Brown, tradition always has been a part of their lives. Members of the Penobscot Indian Nation, they grew up together, learning traditional crafts from tribal elders on Indian Island. But what this young married couple may not have foreseen is how crucial a role they themselves would play in keeping the jewelry- and basket-making customs of their tribe alive.
Today the third floor of their Victorian-style home in Bangor is a studio space where they create traditional and trendy jewelry, along with baskets made of ash and sweet grass.
“It’s a hobby, but we also make money through our hobby and share our culture with the world,” Donna said.
The Browns, who met at Donna’s fifth birthday party – “We’ve known each other all our lives,” says Donna, 33 – have been married for more than three years. Each fondly recalled spending time as children with former Penobscot Nation Chief Barry Dana.
“He was a great inspiration and an excellent role model for us,” Donna said.
Dana taught a cultural class where children learned about a variety of traditional activities, such as singing and drumming, as well as how to do beadwork on a loom, track animals, and scrape and pound ash to make baskets.
“I remember making stuff and walking around as a kid and knocking on people’s doors to see if they would buy it,” Jason, 34, said.
He recalled a piece of jewelry his aunt had started and left at his house. Jason finished it and his aunt was kind enough to buy it back from him.
Carrying on these traditions isn’t just a way to keep their culture alive; it’s an important connection to their families.
“[My mother’s] very proud,” Donna said. “She feels a lot the way Jason and I do.”
“We hope to have children and definitely want to pass that along,” Jason said.
Already, their nieces and nephews love to visit and try their hands at making jewelry.
“That’s their favorite thing to do,” Donna said.
Initially, Donna had a hard time letting go of the pieces she made, but over time it has gotten easier.
“At first, I wanted to keep everything,” Donna said.
The couple sells their work online at www.acaciart.com, the Abbe Museum Gift Shop in Bar Harbor, the Wabinaki Basket Makers Alliance Gift Shop in Old Town, Mohegan Sun Casino Trading Cove in Uncasville, Conn., and at a few trade shows throughout the year.
“Now it makes me happy when someone buys it,” Donna said.
Earrings range in price from $16 to about $40, while necklaces run anywhere from $17 to $85 for a handcrafted sterling silver and turquoise piece. They also sell bracelets, rings, pins and barrettes.
Jason said their matching sets also are top sellers, with prices varying depending on what’s included in the set.
Both Jason and Donna wish they could spend more time practicing their craft, but the demands of daily life don’t allow it. Jason works full time for Day’s Jewelers in Waterville in marketing, and Donna works part-time for the same company.
With limited time, it’s difficult to keep enough inventory on hand to sell their work at as many events as they’d like.
“As soon as we make it, it goes,” Donna said.
They also create only a few on-request pieces because people often don’t realize the amount of time it takes to create even a simple piece of jewelry, and aren’t willing to pay for a one-of-a-kind item, Jason explained.
“We don’t do a lot of custom [work] just because it’s so time consuming,” Jason said.
In reality, however, everything they create is one of a kind.
Sometimes their creations are dictated by what they have on hand for materials, but both get inspiration by looking at other jewelry and from nature.
Many of the materials they use are organic, such as natural stones, porcupine quills, quartz and even birch bark. They also use Swarovski crystal, glass beads, silver and copper.
“It kind of tells you what it wants to be,” Jason said, looking at the necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings that they had displayed on their dining room table.
The pieces ranged from a very traditional birch-bark butterfly necklace that was detailed with porcupine quills and antique mother-of-pearl buttons, to trendier chunky silver rings with large stones and matching earring and necklace sets.
Jason learned about silversmithing while enrolled at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., where he earned an associate of fine arts degree.
Both Jason and Donna have lived away from the area and the Penobscot reservation on Indian Island, and that experience only helped to reinforce the importance of family and tradition.
“You have to leave to appreciate it,” Jason said.
Being away has made them appreciate their culture even more, but the young couple realizes that things have changed and that it’s getting harder to keep those traditions alive. Jason recalled spending much of his childhood outdoors running through the woods with friends. Now, most children spend hours playing video games, and cell phones and computers have sped up the pace of everyday life.
“Things are so much more hectic now than they were when we were kids,” Jason said.
“I find that the older we get, the more important for both of us it is that we continue this and pass it on,” Donna said. “Jason and I are trying to keep our culture alive through our jewelry.”
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