NEW GLOUCESTER — The thunder of a giant ceremonial drum echoed from the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village on Saturday as hundreds listened and watched traditional dancing performed by members of the Sipayik Troupe of Perry.
“The turnout was overwhelming,” said Michael Graham, director of the Shaker Village.
Inside a giant tent in proximity to a century-old maple tree, Gabe Frey of Princeton, a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, talks about the gift of the brown ash tree.
Frey harvests trees from the woods, which begins a creative process of intricate steps to make a precisely crafted basket offering.
He showed how pounding the brown ash logs forms strips that are crafted into the splints. With the help of special tools, Gabe accurately prepares splints of various diameters for weaving into fancy and utilitarian workbaskets.
“We know a bug that will eat these trees eventually. All of New England is quarantined, making it illegal to transport firewood, for example,” Frey said.
He is one of several generations of families who have honed their skills and passed down their artistry from one generation to the next.
Gabe said he is representing his family at the Shaker Village. His grandparent died last week, and members of his family are mourning and unable to attend.
Fred Tomah of the Houlton Band of Maliseet said he creates about 500 baskets each year.
As he chated about his artistry, his fingers constantly weaved through the rows, as patterns emerge that he instinctively knew. The basket lid fit with accuracy balanced in perfect symmetry with the container.
He said he uses a mathematical formula that starts at the base where 17 pieces are laid out and the pattern is followed back and forth for accuracy and control. His nimble fingers know exactly the thickness of the ash splint required. His patterns are in his head.
Passamaquoddy member Molly Neptune Parker was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts, being named a National Heritage Fellow.
Her fancy baskets feature acorns, strawberries, corn, flowers and complex sweet grass, and her ash baskets have intricate weaving.
On Saturday, she brought a unique arrangement of flowers formed from the brown ash that she said has been sold to a buyer who left her a deposit. Her family of young basket makers surrounded her.
Barry Dana, a former Penobscot Nation chief who was raised on the Penobscot Reservation on Indian Island in Old Town, said he learned traditional skills and values from tribal elders.
His skills working with birch bark resulted in an array of artistic containers and trays.
He also is an educator, teaching students in Maine’s schools to help break down stereotyping about first people.
Dana also is a member of the Burnurwurbsket Singers of Indian Island.
Richard Silliboy of the Houlton Band of Micmacs said he has been a traditional basket maker for many decades. With the help of others, logs were brought to him while he worked his sequence over and over again.
-
- David Sanipass shares a Micmac story about hunting a bear with a camera during the Maine Native American Summer Market at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester on Saturday.
-
- Fred Tomah of Houlton answers questions about the Wabanaki medicine baskets he makes by hand.
-
- Passamaquoddy master basket maker Molly Neptune Parker of Princeton works on a basket during the Maine Native American Summer Market at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester on Saturday.
-
- Gabe Frey of Princeton demonstrates how he splits brown ash to make baskets.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
