Kateri Aubin Dubois / Nisnipawset

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Maliseet of Viger

MEDIUM: Beadwork

BIOGRAPHY
Nisnipawset is Kateri’s indigenous name. Because her contemporary creations are made with traditional bead weaving techniques, Kateri uses her indigenous name to represent her brand. Her jewelry is handmade yet affordable, hypoallergenic and high quality. Kateri is a 35-year-old, now mother of two, indigenous woman living in the Greater Montreal region. She started beading traditional friendship bracelets as a child and rediscovered the joy of beading while studying translation at Concordia University, from which she is now an Alumni. Kateri started creating beautiful pieces. She is always exploring to find new techniques to learn, new patterns to bead and learning to design her own pieces. She hopes one day to own her gallery-shop and share her beading knowledge with whoever wants to learn.

 

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Gabriel Frey

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash

ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a Passamaquoddy brown ash basketmaker, specializing in utility baskets such as pack basket, market baskets, and purses. I weave each basket solely with brown ash and handcraft leather straps for each. My artistic process includes locating and harvesting basket quality brown ash trees from the woods, processing brown ash logs, and weaving brown ash materials into basket forms. The majority of my tools such as basket molds, gauges, and my shave horse are adaptations of traditional designs. Maintaining the traditional knowledge of Wabanaki basketmakers is an important aspect of my artistic process.

My art is an expression of my worldview.  I am inspired by the natural world and the transformation of a living tree into a functional basket. My baskets are a connection to my past, present, and future, interwoven to create functional pieces of art. When I examine a basket, the basketmaker’s choices in weave and design become evident.  Seeing these choices is like holding a conversation with that basketmaker through time.  As I carve my own creative path in the basketmaking community, I work towards perfecting the function and form of the traditional baskets while evolving each basket to reflect my personal style.  My goal in basketmaking is to produce useable, functional baskets for daily use.  I want a person who buys my basket to use, feel, and experience Wabanaki culture every day.

 

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Eldon Hanning

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq Nation

MEDIUM: Basketry

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Eldon Hanning of Mi’kmaq Nation is well known for his utility baskets. A master of ash preparation, Eldon will demonstrate the traditional Micmac method of pounding and splitting ash, which differs greatly from the techniques of the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy ash-pounders. A board member of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Eldon has taught hundreds of members of each of the Wabanaki Tribes how to weave potato baskets—a basket which the Wabanaki are well known for.

Geo Soctomah Neptune

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash

BIOGRAPHY
Geo Neptune is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe from Indian Township, Maine, and is a Master Basketmaker, a Drag Queen, an Activist and an Educator. As a person who identifies as a two-spirit, an indigenous cultural gender role that is a sacred blend of both male and female, Geo uses they/them gender-neutral pronouns.

When Geo graduated from Dartmouth College and returned to the Indian Township reservation, they began to focus heavily on their weaving, and developing their own individual artistic style. Experimenting with their family's signature woven flowers mixed with natural elements of twigs and branches, Geo began forming what would eventually be known as their signature sculptural style of whimsical, elegant, traditionally-informed basketmaking.

Read full bio here >

 

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Jennifer Pictou

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Aroostook Band of Micmac

MEDIUM: Beadwork

BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Pictou (Mi’kmaq) is a member of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs. She is a professional storyteller, artist, and historian as well as owner of a nationally renowned tour company, Bar Harbor Ghost Tours. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and A Masters Degree in American and New England Studies. Jennifer describes her art style as a mix of traditional Mi’kmaq forms with an Art Deco flair. Her original bead designs involve intricate traditional double curves and floral patterns beaded into exquisite limited edition handbags and wall art. Currently Jennifer is also studying and is a founding member of a group reviving traditional Mi’kmaq porcupine quill embroidery.

 

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Norma "Randi" Smith

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy/Hidatsa and Mandan

MEDIUM: Painting/Illustration

BIOGRAPHY
Norma Randi Smith is a multi-faceted artist, homesteader, and entrepreneur from Maine. A transplant from her father’s clan in North Dakota of the Hidatsa and Mandan people, she moved to her Passamaquoddy mother’s tribal lands of Sipayik as a young girl and was raised on the beautifully rugged coastline of Washington County. There she learned the importance of family, community ways, and customs. However, with the other tribal origins and inspiration of her father, Randi took after her father’s artistic ability of creativity and drawing; this ability continued as she turned into an adult and felt like her last connection as her father died of a tragic death at a young age. Some of the content that Norma paints is inspired by her father’s tribal people, history, and customs but also is influenced by the rich history of the Passamaquoddy people and the beautiful contrasts of those tribes.

Norma is a graduate from the University of Maine at Machias with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary fine arts with a focus on painting. She uses oil and acrylic paints on canvas with a focus on her heritage of both sides of her indigenous families. She also likes to incorporate the idea and use of energetic intent in her paintings by employing sigils while painting or other esoteric means to portray her feelings of ancestry, heritage, connection, and healing. Painting for Randi is her way to get closer and convey the importance of roots, tribal customs, and learning. Her painting style is a mix of abstract and realism. She likes to paint on a larger scale and likes to paint everyday beauty that comes from nature, life, dreams, and spirituality.

 

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Theresa Secord

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Basketry - Other

BIOGRAPHY
Theresa Secord (b.1958) is a traditional Penobscot basketmaker and the founding director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA). Over the course of 30 years, Theresa taught more than a dozen apprentices the endangered art of ash and sweetgrass basketry. Now, some of her apprentice’s apprentices- have apprentices!

Theresa has been honored several times for her advocacy. Among the most notable, the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed her with the prestigious lifetime achievement award, the National Heritage Fellowship, in 2016. In 2003, she was awarded the Prize for Creativity in Rural Life by the Women’s World Summit Foundation, granted at the UN in Geneva Switzerland, for helping basket makers rise out of poverty. She has won a number of first place ribbons for her own basketry at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Eiteljorg Indian Art Market and the Heard Museum

Read full bio here >

 

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Sarah Sockbeson

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Photo by Robin Farrin

Photo by Robin Farrin

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash

ARTIST STATEMENT
I have been an artist my entire life. Being Penobscot, I had seen baskets in museums and in the homes of my family members and was always fascinated by them. I was also told stories about my great-grandmother who was a basketmaker in the early 1900s. I wanted to be a part of this tradition, but unfortunately, in my family, it was not passed down to my generation. I still found ways to practice art, and began painting and experimenting with various mediums. I found it was a great outlet for my artistic abilities.

In 2004, I apprenticed with Jennifer Neptune as part of the Maine Arts Commission Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. I was honored to have the opportunity to work with a skilled masterweaver, such as Jennifer. Since then, I have sharpened my skills with each basket woven.

Although I am using traditional material and techniques, my style comes from the place I live today, in this modern society. Basketry, to me, is a fine art and in order for the tradition to survive, it must evolve. It is important for my work to appeal to a modern audience, while still remaining true to cultural traditions. I take pride in every project I set out to do, and I am constantly striving to be better at what I do. When I can create something that surpasses my initial vision, it gives me a real sense of accomplishment.

Read more here >

 

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Frances Soctomah

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Beadwork

ARTIST STATEMENT
As a Passamaquoddy artist, every time I create something new I’m reminded it’s not new. Our families and peoples have been here for over 13,000 years and everything I make is building on their legacies. All that comes from me is made possible from their knowledge of our homelands. To do as my ancestors did is to know them. To see the art they created is to hear their whispers. My work continues to let their stories flow while reminding us of the hardships, strengths, and love that allowed us to be here today as Wabanaki People.

Read Frances’s bio here >

 

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