Twisted Path III, Meet the Artists

Mask by Shane Perley-Dutcher

We are now less than one month away from the opening of our new feature exhibit, Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance. Art work is coming in, and as we continue to introduce you to the incredibly talented group of artist participating in this exhibit, we are delighted to share a little more about the artists. We look forward to seeing you when the exhibit opens!

Shane Perley-Dutcher

Shane Perley-Dutcher is Wolastoq from the Tobique Maliseet First Nation and as a child was given the spirit name “Aduksis.” Aduksis translated from the Maliseet language means little deer. Shane’s passion for creativity has inspired his journey as an artist. “Creativity has been my heart beat since I was a child. Over the years, the beat has found many rhythms. Creative energy is transferable and keeps me balanced, without it life changes for me.” 

In 2000, Shane graduated with honors and distinction from the New Brunswick College of Craft and design jewelry manufacturing/metal arts program. In 2006 he formed Aduksis Jewellery Designs as a product of his creativity. Shane’s business focuses on a balance of cultural richness and aesthetic appeal. “I want you to see a product that has a life behind it, every piece from Aduksis Jewellery Design has a connection to Maliseet culture. Sharing the historical and cultural aspects of my jewellery/art is a source of pride for me and for Aduksis Jewellery Designs.” 

Basket by Shane Perley-Dutcher

Statement for Twisted Path III: 

Balance is a lifelong journey. The pieces created for Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance reflect the struggles of our people, our identity. Recognizing that I live much differently than my ancestors, I face challenges they did not have. I was not brought up making traditional artwork - I learned through my own artistic journey. The fight to keep traditional knowledge alive is present in the production of aboriginal artwork itself. My connection to the land is sacred. I need the land for my spiritual and mental well-being. Every ash basket, metal basket, birch basket, birchbark canoe, wooden mask, and piece of jewelry I've made has come from a place of love and respect for my culture.

I feel like a walking contradiction because I consider the land sacred, but at the same time I live in a way that disrespects that relationship. Twisted Path, to me, means that we live in a world that is full of contradictions on many levels. Balance in the face of contradictions is a daily exercise - I am still pushing forward knowing I am evolving as a Maliseet and as an artist. In my culture we believe in lifelong learning, and it is through this principle that I am learning how to find balance in the twisted path I face every day. 

Nicholas Galanin

Get Comfortable, 2012, Digital print

Born in Sitka, Alaska, Nicholas Galanin, Tlingit/Aleut, has struck an intriguing balance between his origins and the course of his practice. Having trained in "traditional" as well as "contemporary" approached to art, he pursues them both in parallel paths. His stunning bodies of work simultaneously preserve his culture and explore new perceptual territory. 

Galanin studied at the London Guildhall University, where he received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with honors in Jewelry Design and Silversmithing and at Massey University in New Zealand, earning a Master’s degree in Indigenous Visual Arts. Valuing his culture as highly as his individuality, Galanin has created an unusual path for himself. He deftly navigates “the politics of cultural representation”, as he balances both ends of the aesthetic spectrum. With a fiercely independent spirit, Galanin has found the best of both worlds and has given them back to his audience in stunning form. 

Statement for Twisted Path III

The State of Being, Displaced, 2013, Digital print

Culture cannot be contained as it unfolds. My art enters this stream at many different points, looking backwards, looking forwards, generating its own sound and motion. I am inspired by generations of Tlingit creativity and contribute to this wealthy conversation through active curiosity. There is no room in this exploration for the tired prescriptions of the "Indian Art World" and its institutions. Through creating I assert my freedom.

Concepts drive my medium. I draw upon a wide range of indigenous technologies and global materials when exploring an idea. Adaptation and resistance, lies and exaggeration, dreams, memories, and poetic views of daily life—these themes recur in my work, taking form through sound, texture, and image. Inert objects spring back to life; kitsch is reclaimed as cultural renewal; dancers merge ritual and rap. I am most comfortable not knowing what form my next idea will take, a boundless creative path of concept-based motion.

"Winter in the Dawnland" - New Wabanaki Stories and Craft Activity Series for Children

Muwin and the Seven Bird Hunters, Illustration by Kristy Read and Sana Kavanaugh

On Monday, January 20, while public schools are closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day, join Abbe Museum Educator, George Neptune for a special children's activity. From 1:00 - 3:00pm, Neptune will share stories and a craft activity appropriate for children of all ages as part of the new "Winter in the Dawnland" program series.

In Wabanaki culture, the winter season was traditionally a time of quiet introspection and, most importantly, a time to share traditional stories.  In this new program series designed for children, each month will feature a different traditional story from the Wabanaki tribes and a craft activity that relates to the story.  This month, hear stories such as Muwin and the Seven Bird Hunters, the Girl who Married a Star, and legends of the Star People—then, weave and decorate your own paper star to take home with you! 

The next "Winter in the Dawnland" program will take place on Tuesday, February 18 during school vacation week. See our full schedule of programming for that week!

In Gratitude

As the snow starts to fall on Bar Harbor and the end of 2013 draws near, all of us at the Abbe wanted to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude for the support of our community throughout this past year. By visiting the museum, becoming a member, donating, volunteering and generally being interested in what we do, you have made the many accomplishments of this past year possible. And what a year it has been, with the opening of four new exhibits and our first traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian, the opening of the renovated Sieur de Monts Spring location, the 20th Annual Native American Festival, the artist-in-residence month-long canoe build and, of course, our affiliation with the Smithsonian Institute. Throughout all of these events and exhibits, our educators have diligently been working to develop and take curriculum on the Wabanaki into classrooms throughout the state.

We are so proud of the work the Abbe does and honored by the people we attract. Thank you for being a part of that intelligent, enthusiastic and creative community!

Happy holidays from everyone at the Abbe!

Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko, Abbe Museum President and CEO at the 2013 Gathering Gala.

Membership, a gift that keeps giving all year long

Not sure what to get for that person who “has everything and needs nothing” on your gift list.  Well, look no further!  May we suggest giving the gift of an Abbe Museum membership?  There are many levels to choose from, and the most popular one is the Household Membership for $65.   Benefits include: unlimited free admission for two to both museums, subscription to the Abbe Museum eNews and calendar of events, invitations to museum events, and 10% discount on all purchases in the Museum shops.  

Now that the Abbe is a Smithsonian Affiliate, we are able to offer a membership to the Smithsonian through the Abbe.  For $30 more, you can add a Smithsonian membership to make it a double membership gift.  These benefits include:  personalized membership cards identifying you as a Smithsonian Affiliate member, a one year subscription to Smithsonian or Air & Space Magazine, 10% discount off all purchases from the Smithsonian Catalog and Smithsonian Store, discounts on shopping and dining at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, members-only travel opportunities and more!

Call 288-3519 to order your gift membership and we will mail you a gift-wrapped membership package.  Ask for Johannah or Hannah or email johannah@abbemuseum.org or hannah@abbemuseum.org.  You are also welcome to come by the museum store in person.

Winter hours for the museum and shop are 10:00am to 4:00pm Thursday through Sunday.  The museum is closed for the month of January, as we will be installing the newest exhibit, Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance and will reopen on February 6 with the new exhibit.

Add a paddle and save a stamp

What do we mean by this?

This holiday season, we are making it easy for you to make an on-line gift to the Abbe.  By clicking the link below, you will be brought to a page with an image of a canoe full of paddles.  You can choose a dollar amount listed next to the canoe, go through the paypal portal and and the next day you will see that your gift has triggered another paddle to be added to the image.  The number of paddles in the water indicates the number of gifts that we have received through online giving in November and December.  

Our online goal is to reach $5,000 before the end of December 2013.  All gifts support the annual fund, which is, metaphorically-speaking, our canoe.  The annual fund keeps us afloat, it helps us go where we need to be in 2014, which is a museum full of fresh, new, exciting exhibits and vibrant educational programs for people of all ages. The annual fund helps to protect our 50,000 piece collection; and it allows us to continue moving forward with the important work of sharing our mission with the 30,000 people who will visit us next year.

Please help make this journey a success for the Abbe Museum by putting your paddle in the water today!

Farewell to Raney Bench

This past week we bid farewell to Raney Bench, Curator of Education, as she resigned to become the new executive director of the Seal Cove Auto Museum.  During her seven years at the Abbe, Raney has been instrumental in the current vision and strategic direction of the institution.  She has been an extraordinary educator and advocate and her connections and relationships locally and throughout the tribal communities have been invaluable.  The staff, trustees, volunteers and the Abbe community will miss her but we wish her all the best in her new adventure. 

Twisted Path III, Meet the Artists

As we approach the end of the year here at the Abbe, Curator of Collections, Julia Clark and Manager of Guest and Creative Services, Allison Shank are hard at work preparing to install our new feature exhibit, Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance. In our previous eNews we featured two of the ten artists participating in the exciting new exhibit. Here we introduce you to two more:

Will Wilson, Diné was born in San Francisco and moved permanently to the Navajo Reservation at the age of 10. He attended the Bureau of Indian Affair's Tuba City Boarding School from 1978 to 1983. He holds a bachelor's degree in art history and studio art and a master's of fine art in photography. Wilson has worked in a variety of media and has produced large-scale multi-media installations that incorporate photography and sculpture, monumental art pieces and intimate photo essays. 

In addition to his profession as an artist and photographer, he is also an arts educator and community organizer. Wilson has taught sculpture at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., and he served two years as a photojournalist in Central America for the Associated Press. He currently resides in Tucson, Ariz., where he is the co-director of the Barrio Anita Community Mural Project (BAMP), the largest public art commission in Tucson's history. Wilson is also a Visiting Professor of Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

Most recently Wilson's work provides a glimpse into the complex contemporary negotiation with a land we have become alienated from, our dis-ease in understanding who we are, and possible paths for healing. 

Wilson's work focuses on Navajo people and their relationship to the land. "His works are poetic and gritty meditations on the human condition and Wilson's relationship to Dinetah, Navajo land," notes Joe Baker, Lloyd Kiva New Curator of Fine Art at the Heard Museum. 

"In my work, there are stories that I grew up with, stories bringing together the cultural weave from which I come. These stories are personal to me as an individual and as a member/citizen of a people, therefore they must be presented and received with respect," Wilson says. "I want my work to strengthen Indians with examples of resistance, and the possibilities of controlling one's own representation." 

One of Wilson's powerful photographs serves as the poster image for the exhibit, seen below:

Vera Longtoe with twined bag. Photo by Lina Longtoe.

Vera Longtoe Sheehan is an indigenous Vermont artist who has lectured and exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. She preserves the tradition of her ancestors, the last known Native American family in northern New England making twined, plant-fiber creations. Her father taught her the proper ways to harvest and process plants to make cordage, and then to use that cordage to make her distinctive twined bags, baskets and textiles. Today Vera combines family tradition with knowledge of Wabanaki culture to create her one-of-a-kind twined art that is both contemporary and ancient at the same time. Each innovative handmade object takes hours, days, weeks or even months of complex weaving and knotting to complete. Vera is committed to teaching her two children to twine, so that this endangered art form endures. For almost twenty years, Vera has combined her indigenous Vermont heritage, her knowledge of regional history, and a passion for artistic creation, in offering programs for schools and museums. Her twined bags, baskets and textiles reside in museum and private collections and can be seen in films and literature.

 

2014 Brown Bag Lunch Series

The Abbe Museum's Brown Bag Lunch Series will return in January 2014. This popular program was introduced in 2011 to examine issues relevant to the major exhibit at that time, Headline News and to encourage open dialogue. The series was very well-received and has continued every year since, shifting to align with featured exhibits. This year, each Brown Bag Lunch will be led by a different artist from the upcoming exhibit Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance. The three lunchtime talks will focus on current environmental issues that Wabanaki people currently face, including the threat of the emerald ash borer beetle, control over water quality within tribal communities, and the complicated processes of fisheries management. 


The 2014 series will begin on Thursday, January 16 from 12:00 - 1:00pm. Stay tuned for details on our calendar page. Future dates in the 2014 Brown Bag Lunch Series include Thursday, February 20 and Thursday, March 20, also from 12:00 - 1:00pm. Each program is free and open to the public and attendees are encouraged to bring their lunch to enjoy during the talk.

"Winter in the Dawnland", Children's Program

Muwin and the Seven Bird Hunters, Illustrated by Kristy Read & Sana Kavanaugh

Join Museum Educator, George Neptune on Monday, January 20 from 1:00 - 3:00pm (a public school holiday) for a children's program entitled Winter in the Dawnland, Wabanaki Stories and Craft Activity.

In Wabanaki culture, the winter season was traditionally a time of quiet introspection and, most importantly, a time to share traditional stories.  In this new program series designed for children, each month will feature a different traditional story from the Wabanaki tribes and a craft activity that relates to the story.  This month, hear stories such as Muwin and the Seven Bird Hunters, the Girl who Married a Star, and legends of the Star People—then, weave and decorate your own paper star to take home with you!

A New Book by Susan Guyette

From time to time, the Abbe team reviews books for our audiences; whether they are teachers looking for a good book for their classrooms or a library trying to find an appropriate book for a children’s program on Native Americans, we hope to be useful in our recommendations.  A new book is on the market and it is extremely useful for tribal museums and communities that are making cultural tourism plans.  Written in a practical, accessible, and realistic manner, Susan Guyette’s Sustainable Cultural Tourism: Small-Scale Solutions is a must-have reference for tribal communities working with limited resources, but are committed to inviting tourists and other visitors to engage in cultural experiences. 

 

From the author -

Cultural tourism of the future will foster authenticity and learning experiences through small-scale, linked enterprise networks. The interface between museums and tourism offers potential for visitor education as well as income for museum programs.

 

Preserving the diversity of traditions, lifeways, and cultural values is a core concern in rural and Indigenous communities. With a careful planning effort, cultural pride is inspired and resources are generated for cultural retention—with a museum as the community hub. As a community adjusts to changing economic conditions, cultural tourism holds the potential to be one of several options considered for museum resiliency.

 

This practical text guides planning and development efforts—addressing regional linkages, the tourism plan, visitor surveys, marketing, cultural centers and museums, job creation, enterprise development, and evaluation of sustainability. A new paradigm for a cultural value-based approach is discussed with examples throughout the book.

 

Susan Guyette, Ph.D. (Métis – Micmac and Acadian French) has 25 years of direct experience working with Indigenous and rural communities in cultural tourism, as well as cultural centers and museums. She is the author of Planning for Balanced Development: A Guide for Rural and Native American Communities, the co-author of award winning Zen Birding: Connect in Nature, 2010, and the author of several texts for American Indian Studies. She is the owner of Santa Fe Planning & Research in New Mexico (USA). www.susanguyette.com

 

To order the book, visit Amazon.com (ISBN: 978-0-9858788-0-1) or follow this link.

 

 

Special Program with Donna Augustine, Mi'kmaq storyteller and singer

On Thursday, November 14 from 12:00 - 1:00pm join us at the Abbe for a special, free brown bag lunch program with Donna Augustine, Thunderbird Turtle Woman. Donna is a Mi'kmaq storyteller and singer from the Elsipogtog First Nation reserve in New Brunswick and is a member of the the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians of Maine. Donna is a spiritual leader and a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) designate for her tribe. Donna has been active in indigenous rights, ceremonies and repatriation issues since 1977 and has recently been nominated to and accepted on a working group for international repatriation.

The Year of the Canoe

Did you know that it takes 500 hours to build a birchbark canoe?  Invented over 3,000 years ago by the Wabanaki, the birchbark canoe remains a beautiful and efficient vessel.  Perfectly suited to Maine waterways and easy to transport, this innovation is also a remarkable vehicle for engaging our visitors in learning about the first peoples of Maine.

This is truly “the year of the canoe” at the Abbe Museum and it was successfully launched back in January with a generous response to last year’s appeal. Thanks to your support, we have had a vibrant 2013 with six new exhibits between Sieur de Monts and downtown and over 50 programs, workshops and demonstrations (most of which are free).  By the end of this year, we estimate that more than 30,000 people will have visited the Abbe, a 7% increase from last year.

Back in February, we installed our lead exhibit, Wabanaki Guides. Upon entering the main gallery, visitors are invited to journey down a Maine river through the four seasons to learn about the woods, wildlife and history of guiding in Maine from a variety of viewpoints. Throughout the year, programs were designed to accompany the exhibit, including tracking and mapping workshops, lunch lectures with contemporary Wabanaki guides and a month-long artist-in-residence program. 

As the summer season peaked, expert birchbark canoe builders, David Moses Bridges, Passamaquoddy, and Steve Cayard spent a month building a 14’ canoe from start to finish in the courtyard.  Museum guests were encouraged to ask the builders questions as they worked on the various stages. As the first birchbark canoe built on Mount Desert Island in over 100 years, this canoe now resides as the centerpiece of the museum’s education collection.  We will bring it to classrooms around Maine and use it for demonstrations and lectures in and outside of the museum.

At the Abbe, making accessible educational experiences is what we do, but we cannot do it without you. Will you please consider making a contribution of $50 or more to our autumn Annual Fund drive to support our work in 2014?  Your gift makes all the difference, ensuring that our curators and educators can research, build and create the exceptional exhibits and programs that you expect from your Abbe Museum.  The impact of our work resonates with visitors, who leave more informed about the Wabanaki and with different perspectives on complex social issues that affect all of us. Thank you for your support.

 

"Thunderheart" comes to the Abbe - the 5th Annual Native Film Series

This year, the Abbe’s annual film series focuses on the changing representation of Native people in film, specifically as Native writers, actors and directors gain more control over telling their own stories. On Thursday, November 7 from 7:00 to 9:00pm the Abbe will show the second film in the series. Thunderheart is based on actual events on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota and the story follows an FBI man with Sioux background who is sent to help with a murder investigation. While on the reservation, the agent faces his own past and has to come to terms with his heritage. The American Indian Movement (AIM), whose members were deeply involved with the events chronicled, helped inform the story, and some of the actors in the film are members of AIM. A discussion will follow the film. 

The final film in the series, on Thursday, December 5, will be More Than Frybread. This film showcases Native storytelling in a mockumentary style film that is written, directed, and acted with an almost all Native cast and crew. It tells the story of twenty-two Native American frybread makers, representing all twenty-two federally recognized tribes in Arizona, who convene in Flagstaff to compete for the first ever, first annual, state of Arizona Frybread Championship! 

Both films are free and open to the public thanks to support from Reel Pizza. 

A Time for Giving Thanks, Book Reading and Children's Activity with George Neptune

Join Museum Educator George Neptune for a reading of the children’s book, Thanks to the Animals, written by Allen Sockabasin, Passamaquoddy, and participate in an activity that focuses on Passamaquoddy animal names.  In the Passamaquoddy language, animals are named for certain behaviors or physical characteristics—is there an animal in your life that you are particularly thankful for? Re-name your favorite animal, and see if the new name can be translated into Passamaquoddy! The holiday season is a time when you are encouraged to reflect upon the things in your life that make you thankful.  You might be thankful for certain things that are very different from what a person from another place or culture would be thankful for—you may even find that you and other people are thankful for very similar things! Free and open to the public.

The Abbe Museum's 2012 Annual Report

We are pleased to share our 2012 fiscal year Annual Report. Thank you to all those who support the Abbe through their dollars, their time and their membership! 

Opening February 2014 - Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance

Twisted Path III: Questions of Balance

, the latest exhibit in the

Twisted Path Series

, will open in February 2014 and invites artists to consider their personal and cultural connection to place, and how they communicate this through their artwork.  Whether from a sense of comfort and pride in one’s homeland, or criticism about the condition of our planet and concerns about environmental genocide, the works of each artist offer a unique perspective expressed through their art.  This exhibit will bring together artists engaging in conversations nationally, sharing their voices and experiences to Abbe visitors. 

In keeping with our charge to develop Native voice as primary voice in our exhibits and programs, Rick Hunt (Abenaki) will serve as co-curator with Raney Bench, the Abbe’s Curator of Education.  Raney and George Neptune (Passamaquoddy), Museum Educator, have designed a program series to accompany this exhibit that includes a variety of artists, media, and learning experiences which will be scheduled throughout 2014. We have recently

received several grants

in support of the exhibit and accompanying programs.

Eleven artists will join us for this exhibit. Over the next few months, we will profile those artists here. First, we'd like to welcome

Patricia Michaels

, fashion designer from the Taos Peublo, and Gina Brooks, Maliseet ink and pen artist from Maine.

Patricia Michaels

is a traditional native woman who is a style-maker at the forefront of modern fashion design and aesthetics. She creates boldly hip designs with a quality of timeless elegance. Michaels spent her youth between Santa Fe, where her parents operated their art gallery, and Taos Pueblo. In 1985 she apprenticed with the Santa Fe Opera’s costume designer, and then went on to the Institute of American Indian Arts where she studied graphic design, jewelry and traditional techniques. In 2001, after working in Chicago at the Field Museum and an art gallery, she apprenticed with a tailor in Milan, Italy. Michaels later brought her son and daughter with her to New York where she worked in the city’s garment district. After two years there, Michaels developed her own collection, becoming the first Native American to feature a label at the prestigious New York Fashion Week. Michaels competed in the 2013 season 11 of the popular show Project Runway, finishing as runner up and a fan favorite. Now based back home in Taos, Patricia exhibits her work in museums and at fashion weeks in New York and Santa Fe, and her innovative designs have garnered top honors at Santa Fe Indian Market. 

Artist Statement for

Twisted Path III

"I create highly individualized pieces that are elegant, fluid, sophisticated, and organic by fusing my own aesthetic with indigenous and European

perspectives.

The detail of every garment, from hand-painted silk feathers, and meshed leather to textures that echo the natural world, I evoke my own history and culture as part of a larger timeless narrative.

Each design tells a story. Just as a river is pierced by a tree branch, time is momentarily anchored within the garment. Each piece is created, is worn, and continues to create fresh new meanings into the future. Every person brings his or her own sense of self into the narrative and enriches the meaning. In this way, we might defy the consumerist sense of fashion as something we can put on, take off, and casually cast aside."

Gina Brooks

is a Maliseet from St. Mary’s First Nation (in New Brunswick, Canada), and resides at Pleasant Point, Maine. She considers herself an artist informed by Wabanaki traditional knowledge. Her art includes brown ash basketry, porcupine quill and birch bark basketry, carving, and print making. Her original prints include acrylic and ink, and lithographs, monotypes, and copper etch plating. She is currently completing her bachelor’s degree in Native Studies at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB.

Her basketry and print art has been commissioned by private art collectors and aboriginal organizations from across Canada.  Her work has been exhibited in 2011 in a group exhibit at the Charlotte Street Arts Center in Fredericton, NB, Sudbury Nature Center in St. Andrews, NB (Weaving Traditions), and is featured in the New Brunswick Museum’s  Wabanaki contemporary art collection in St. John, NB.

Artist Statement for

Twisted Path III

My life is informed by Wabanaki traditional knowledge. My art is inspired by my people, our homeland and things that have historical significance and spiritual depth, which I attempt to communicate in my art. I see art as an opportunity to learn about myself thought ancient stories, symbols, motifs and language. Wabanaki belief systems are woven and etched within the portals and layers of our sacred mother—

skitk

ǝ

mikw

.

My intention is to share examples of Wabanaki art, with their diverse and powerful designs—many of which have also served a very practical purpose in the everyday lives of generations of living and breathing people. Art to the Wabanaki people is an essential aspect of their humanity and a reflection of a communal, spiritual well-being and love of life that flows through the essence of its being—

skitk

ǝ

mikw

.

Beyond technical rendering of the subject, I have extensively researched the historical background of Wabanaki material culture and the spiritual, symbolic significance of distinctive traditional designs. My hope is to gain knowledge and share understanding that can deepen the appreciation of our homeland and my people, a unique experience that can enrich the lives of all people and their environment. In fact, for me, my subject helps in the creation of itself, informs the creative choices I make, and gives the artistic process depth and meaning. I let no social, political, or religious standards interfere with this process. I create from my own truth.

Wabanaki reality is best understood through the traditional language and storytellers, and stories of a creator who is constantly transforming and shape-shifting. Using Wabanaki oral stories, I am better able to deconstruct and reconstruct ideas about Wabanaki present-day issues, and help serve as a portal for the ancient transformative process. 

These pieces call on the people of the earth to write a new story in the language of the old ones, a new pipe to signify the commitment to our ancient beliefs and to embrace the sacred journey of giving thanks for life.

Teach the world “

W

ǝ

liwen skitk

ǝ

mikw ciw psiw-

ǝ

te keke

”

– give thanks to the earth for everything it gives.

Abbe receives grant funding for "Twisted Path III"

We are excited to announce that the Abbe has received two grants for the upcoming feature exhibit Twisted Path III, Questions of Balance.

The exhibit will be funded in part by a $5000 grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additionally, an anonymous grant in support of the exhibit has also been rewarded for $10,000.

Read more about the exhibit and keep an eye out for upcoming artist profiles over the next few months.If you would like to sponsor this exhibit and the attendant educational programs, please contact Hannah Whalen at hannah@abbemuseum.org or 207-288-3519.

The history of the Twisted Path exhibits

Throughout North America, Native people balance the importance of tribal identity and knowledge with the non-Native communities that surround them. Art serves as one means of survival, expressing a wide range of emotions and experiences, from hopes and fears for the future, to dreams and anger about the past. Breaking away from stereotypes of Native American art and what is considered "traditional," the work of contemporary Native artists proves that art and culture are not static, but constantly evolving.

Blanket stories, by Marie Watt

Borrowed from traditional beadworking, the term "twisted path" is a pattern that meanders along the edge of an object. Here, it is a metaphor for the different paths Native American artists walk as they navigate a complex world. The Twisted Path series was conceived in 2008 by Rick Hunt, Abenaki. This series focuses on creating Maine-based conversations like those taking place nationally about contemporary issues, as expressed through Native art. The Native artists who are invited to participate in Twisted Path are well-known for their artistic talent, activism, and critical commentary regarding social issues related to sovereignty and the environment. 


Twisted Path: Contemporary Native American Artists Walking in Two Worlds opened in 2009, and featured nationally and regionally renowned artists whose works expressed the complexities surrounding Native identity.  

TwistedPath II: Contemporary Native American Art Informed by Tradition opened in October 2011 through May 2012, and invited regional artists to consider how traditional materials, styles, and art forms can be a foundation for new works of art, challenging assumptions of what constitutes “traditional.”  

October at the Abbe

The newly completed education canoe, about to be launched for the first time.

Hello and happy October! This is always an exciting month at the Abbe. The summer business has receded and we are settling into fall. October always holds annual Abbe favorites, such as Tea, Popovers & Archaeology and the start of the Annual Native American Film Festival. This October we are also very excited to be hosting FILM FORWARD on October 1, an international touring program that offers film screenings, workshops and discussions with filmmakers, designed to foster dialogue and greater cultural understanding, a mission the Abbe supports. Equally exciting is a special workshop for children at the end of the month. On October 26, David Moses Bridges, Passamaquoddy, will be leading a workshop on birchbark maps and Wabanaki guides. This workshop will be free, but registration is required. See the feature below for details. 

See you soon!

Johannah

The Government Shutdown and the Abbe Museum

Effective today, October 1, the federal government began a partial shutdown. Locally, this means Acadia National Park is closed, indefinitely. The Abbe wishes first and foremost to state our unequivocal support of the park and acknowledgement of how difficult this has been for all park staff.

The closure of Acadia National Park has direct implications for some of the Abbe's programming and other offerings. Here are the things to know about how the government shutdown has affected the Abbe:

• The Abbe's location at Sieur de Monts Spring is closed. Luckily, this location was scheduled to close on October 14th, and while we are certainly sad to see it close early, we hope visitors to the downtown location will enjoy the installation of Saint Sauveur, a new exhibit that has been on display at the Sieur de Monts Spring location over this summer. We hope to have the exhibit in place very soon.
• Our popular program, "Tea, Popovers, and Archaeology" will continue, if the Park reopens by October 21. Should the shutdown be prolonged, we will re-tool this program - please stay tuned for updates.      
  
  
  In acknowledging the loss that is the early closing of Acadia National Park at a time of year when the park is so beautiful, we also wish to encourage visitors to continue to enjoy Mount Desert Island and the many activities, outdoors and in, that are still available. We are happy to direct guests to ways to enjoy the island while the park is closed and offer any additional support possible to enhance each visitor's experience this fall. 
  David E. Putnam, Lecturer of Science at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, will shaure his personal evolution as a prehistoric archaeologist in Maine, and how his own attitudes about the interests of Native American/First Nations people in archaeological issues initially reflected those of his peers and community. - See more at: http://www.abbemuseum.org/calendar/october.html#sthash.qglOg9Wl.dpuf