Jeanne Lewey

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot

MEDIUM: Home & Body

ARTIST STATEMENT
My name is Jeanne Lewey. I live between Indian Township and Indian Island, Maine; I am affiliated with the Penobscot Nation. My cultural upbringing influenced my artisan soap-making and for me, the creative process begins when I'm in nature. I make sweetgrass and cedar soaps using ingredients including wild-harvested Blue Glacier clay, essential oils, milk, activated charcoal, French green clay, and more. I'm self-taught and am in my happy place when I create. I am happiest when creating a new recipe, and hope that my products put a smile on others' faces.

 
 
 

Hawk Henries

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Hawk Henries - DFAI Market Artist

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuck

MEDIUM: Musician, Woodworker

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Hawk is a member of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuck, a people indigenous to what is now Southern New England. He has been composing original music and making Eastern Woodlands flutes using hand tools for over 30 years.

Hawk will play a variety of different flutes. He also enjoys sharing his experiences and perspectives about Life in hopes of acknowledging and honoring the Sacredness in each person and all cultures. He creates a calming yet engaging and contemplative space while maintaining a note of humor. His music is a reflection of thinking that we each have the capacity to make a change in the world.

Hawk has had the honor of presenting at venues such as The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Harvard Medical School Graduation, and in the U.K. with the London Mozart Players. He also enjoys educational settings from kindergarten to university and small venues where he can engage the audience in dialogue.

As a seasoned flute maker, Hawk has flutes all over the world and in several museums. He has three original CD's; First Flight, Keeping the Fire and Voices. He is also featured on the compilation CD Tribal Winds. His music has been used in a variety of films and documentaries, some of which won or were nominated for Emmy awards.

 

Connect with Hawk

 
Website
 
 
 
 

Frances Soctomah

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash, Beadwork

BIOGRAPHY
Frances Soctomah (she/her) is a Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) artist from Motahkomikuk who engages video, audio, animation, graphic art, and traditional Wabanaki arts practices to explore and articulate relationships between people, Mother Earth, and our non-human relatives. Family, memory, responsibility, reciprocity, and interconnection are concepts often woven throughout her work. She grounds her practice in story, incorporating teachings from conversations with her family and community members.

Frances is one of eleven children who come from a long line of Passamaquoddy artistry. She began her journey as an artist at age seven when her late-grandmother Molly Neptune Parker – a renowned basketmaker and matriarch of four generations of weavers – began teaching her to make brown ash and sweetgrass baskets. While learning to weave fancy baskets in styles passed down to her family through generations, Molly shared stories of growing up in Motahkomikuk and the many places she lived. She passed down teachings from their ancestors, often reflecting on how our relationships with each other have shifted through time. The stories of community and connection that were woven during their time together inspired Frances to seek out other teachers in her community. She later apprenticed with Gabriel Frey, a Passamaquoddy cultural knowledge carrier, to expand her knowledge of basketmaking and harvesting practices as well as Jennifer Sapiel Neptune, a Penobscot cultural knowledge carrier, to learn traditional bead embroidery techniques.

Creating in community paved the way for Frances to expand her arts practice to include digital material, centering and amplifying voices from her community and through her work. In 2019 she enrolled in the Intermedia Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Maine. She is expected to complete her studies in December 2022.

In addition to her creative practice, Frances is committed to supporting spaces for Wabanaki artists to create, connect, thrive, and be seen. She is active in art, museum, and nonprofit circles where she advocates for cultivating sustaining relationships with Wabanaki artists.

 

Connect with Frances

 
Facebook
Instagram
Website
 
 
 
 

Erica Nelson Menard

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot

MEDIUM: Basketry

ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a traditional Penobscot basket maker. As a young child, I observed my grandmother, Philomene Saulis Nelson, preparing materials for her ash and sweetgrass baskets. I loved the vibrant colors she dyed her ash; her color combinations were stunning! When I was in college I asked her to teach me how to make baskets, but it was not meant to be at that time. 

It wasn’t until my late 40s that I had the unique and unexpected opportunity to apprentice with my mentor and cousin, Theresa Secord. As part of my apprenticeship I had the opportunity to use my grandmother's molds and could feel her guiding presence. My inspiration and ancestral designs come from Penobscot-style baskets produced by my grandmother, Philomene, and my cousin, Theresa. I like to weave ash and sweetgrass boxes, sweetgrass flats, and other baskets with braided sweetgrass in the family style. Continuing my family's traditional art form is an honor and privilege. I am also mentoring my daughter and granddaughter so other generations of basket weavers will continue the ancestral tradition. Plus, we are learning Wabanaki language terms associated with traditional basketry.


 
 
 

Eric Otter Bacon

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry, Woodwork

ARTIST STATEMENT
As a young child, my mother mentioned that I constantly created hand-drawn copies of sneakers and boots, particularly focusing on the tread patterns.

Woodworking and basket making soon followed at around age five or so, influenced by several family members, including my maternal grandfather, a Grand Lake wood strip canoe builder, my father, a wood and bone/antler carver, and my uncle who steam bent wood into dog sleds. I also was inspired by many basket makers on the reservation. 

At the age of 16, I started working with Loyd Owle, a renowned Cherokee artist at the Unity Youth Treatment Center in North Carolina. I learned leatherwork, stone carving, and other Native arts. While receiving treatment there, I discovered the value of life, and it was where my first pieces of Native art were sold.

For many years, I pursued a tattoo apprenticeship, focusing my artwork on the industry. I also conducted extensive research on indigenous patterns and designs from around the world.

In 2004, I started making baskets professionally. And during my first decade, I began participating in and winning art competitions at various Native art markets. My work was also featured in the collections of major museums across the country. 

During this period, I collaborated closely with birch bark canoe builders David Moses Bridges and Steve Cayard, constructing five different bark canoes with various Native communities to acquire and exchange knowledge of traditional canoe construction and material gathering/preparation.

In the future, I want to keep sharing and teaching the traditional arts knowledge I've gained. My goal is to inspire others to find value and hope within themselves so they have the tools to lead a positive and meaningful life.  

 
 
 

Emma Soctomah

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash

BIOGRAPHY
Emma Soctomah is a proud Passamaquoddy citizen from Motahkomikuk who comes from a distinguished lineage of basketmakers; more specifically, her grandmother, Molly Jeanette Parker. Through Molly’s leadership and example, Emma has continued to be inspired to carry on their family tradition of the creation of brown ash baskets. Emma spent many years as an apprentice of her older sibling, Geo Neptune. Over the years, she has won numerous awards multiple years in a row, including 1st place, 2nd place, and Best in Division at the Santa Fe Indian Market and Heard Museum Indian Market.

She seeks to honor the strength and legacy of the women who shaped her, as well as those who came before them, by contributing to the advancement and overall well-being of the Wabanaki.

Deborah Spears-Moorehead

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Deborah Spears-Moorehead - DFAI Market Artist

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribal Nation

MEDIUM: Painting, music,

ARTIST STATEMENT
Deborah Spears Moorehead is an award-winning, internationally recognized Native American Fine Artist.  She earned a Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College in 2013 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Sculpture from the University of Massachusetts in 1981. She also attended continuing education courses at Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University and Rhode Island College. .Deborah is a published Author and Cultural Bearer of Traditional Storytelling and Eastern Woodland Native American Music. 

She is the owner and Director of Painted Arrow Studio, Talking Water Productions, and a founding member of Nettukkusqk Singers. All of her artistic expressions, literature, and music performances serve to recover, educate, assert, promote, value, and validate the identity of the past, present, and future generations of Eastern Woodland Tribal Nations. Her creative expressions, which include paintings, murals, music, lectures, sculptures, clothing, and greeting cards, have been featured in museums, magazines, and galleries all over the world. Each piece I create tells a unique story. inspired by my people, our culture, and our homelands. In 2014, Deborah authored the books "Finding Balance: The Oral and Written History and Genealogy of Massasoit's People,” published by Blue Hand Books, and  "Four Directions at Weybossett Crossings.” In 2019, her book “Finding Balance” is a Native American-inspired reflective recovery of the systematic erasure of Eastern Woodland Native American people. It emphasizes and responds to the unbalanced, overly biased version of educational curricula taught as the History of the United States.  In 2025, the International Society of Ethnology and Folklore invited Deborah to present her paper at their conference at the University of Aberdeen. Scotland..” Currently, Deborah is a”2022-2026 “Distinguished Scholar and Artists in Residency"at Bunker Hill Community College, Boston.

Debrah Spears Moorehead is a Massachusetts State Recognized Enrolled Member of The Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribal Nation. She is a direct descendant of many Eastern Woodland Native American tribal leaders. One notable ancestor is Ossamequin, who was the Massasoit (Great Leader) of the Pokanoket Wampanoag Confederation in the seventeenth century. His significant role in U.S. history includes entering into a peace agreement and treaty in 1620 with the lost and starving Pilgrim colonists, with whom he saved their lives. Additionally, this connection extends to Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island. Her most recent project, titled "Fighting For Freedom,” commemorates the contributions of Native Americans, African Americans, and men of mixed ethnicities, who saw enlisting on the colonists' side in the Revolutionary War as an opportunity to gain their freedom from the men and society that enslaved them. The “Fighting For Freedom Project” includes a mural, a coloring book, panel discussions, and a music composition. Also in 2025, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Regional Office in Hadley, MA. exhibited Moorehead’s solo art show. Gather Rhode Island commissioned Deborah for two portraits for their gallery’s permanent collection. In 2024, Deborah retired from working for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, where she had been employed for over thirty years. Her original painting, “Granny Squant, “won the 13 Moon exhibit, Art Award from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. “  The Quinnipiac Museum of Guilford, Connecticut, at Dudley Farm, procured two paintings from Moorehead in 2022, and the Pocumtuck Memorial Museum purchased an original mural titled "Fifty Mishoonash " for their permanent collection. The image of Fifty Mishoonash traveled to forty-nine educational institutions to educate on the history of the region. In 2024, Deborah illustrated the cover design for Dr. Drew Lopenzina's forthcoming book about a historic Pequot Wampanoag named William Appes. In 2022/23, Deborah was the Fitts Family Grant recipient and Artist in Residency at The John Nicholas Brown home, which houses the Humanities Department of Brown University.   During the 2021 pandemic, she created two murals: a community mural for the Collective Museum in Wakefield, R.I., and another for the Nolumbeka Project in Turner Falls, MA. In 2020, the Tomaquaug Museum honored her with a Princess Redwing Art Award. Also, in 2020, she collaborated with Artist Alison Newsome on a sculpture for the Culture and Tourism Department for the City of Providence, PVD festival. "The Three Sisters Sculpture" was procured by the New England Historical Society. and make its permanent home at Casey Farm in Narragansett, R.I. 

In 2018-2021. Moorehead was also awarded a Folk Art Master Apprentice Grant through the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts to teach a mentee traditional Native American music. At this time, she painted two murals in Providence: a 16-foot Land Acknowledgment Mural on the bridge on Cypress Street, commissioned by a Community Health Initiative Grant through Brown University, and the Providence Preservation Society funded the second mural. Her rendered color pencil drawing " Whoosh " won the Art Contest award for the National Congress of American Indians in 2015. The Rhode Island State Council for the Arts honored Moorehead with a Community Leadership Award. In 2013.-her painting, Good Energy, was displayed in Congressman David Ciciline's office. In 2012, the University of Rhode Island honored her as a "Woman of Distinction.  In 2005, she won the "Youth Mural Award "from the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institute. 

 
 
 

Dawn Spears

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Narragansett

MEDIUM: Clothing, Diverse Arts, Painting/Illustration

ARTIST STATEMENT
I try to capture the vibrant colors of our natural world; they are my inspiration along with my appreciation of the symbolism within our indigenous culture. I enjoy opportunities that allow us to share our work and give us space to be able to dispel the myths and stereotypes that our people have been forced to endure. Misconceptions about Native American art continue today, for years I was discouraged from pursuing my own style of work because it was not “Native American” enough, it didn’t show horses, and scenes from the wild west.

I channel my creativity in my work by making a range of art; corn husk dolls, illustrations/drawings, painting, and capturing the beauty of our natural world in photography. I work in both contemporary and traditional mediums; I use both traditional and unconventional tools. I like to experiment with these mediums and create amazing colors. In the last few years I have added custom sneakers, shoes, and handbags to my list, and I even tag jeans and jackets and have participated in fashion shows with my designs. I feel like the possibilities are endless.

A Narragansett/Choctaw, my mother, Diosa Summers (Choctaw), was an artist and educator, and I grew up attending and assisting her. She taught me the fundamentals early; I was immersed in the arts at a young age and I easily became an educator of Eastern Woodland Native Culture myself, my art and work professionally reflect all facets of my life. It was inevitable that I would end up with similar interests as my mother.

Over the last twenty-five years plus years, I have taught youth and adult classes, coordinated cultural events, dance troupes and created educational programs and materials for native language and arts. Alongside my role as a mother, grandmother and wife of thirty-nine years, I find that being able to create original art that typifies Eastern Woodland culture and tradition to be a true outlet.

BIOGRAPHY

Dawn Spears (Narragansett) is the Director of the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance (NIAA). For more than twenty-five years Dawn has worked to support Indigenous arts as an artist, educator, demonstrator, and organizer. Most recently Dawn produced two of the largest and most significant markets in New England, the Indigenous Fine Arts Market East in 2016 and the inaugural Abbe Museum Indian Market in 2018. She is a 2020 Assets for Artists grantee, a 2015 RI State Council for the Arts (RISCA) Master Apprenticeship grantee and was the Community Artist in Residence at the New Bedford Art Museum in 2021. Dawn has exhibited at the most prestigious Indian art markets across the country including the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum in Glendale, CA, Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market in Phoenix, AZ, and the SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM. Dawn has served on the board of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum and Native Americans in Philanthropy and sits on several advisory’s (Brown University, Yellow Farmhouse, Tomaquag Museum, Abbe Museum’) continues to work consulting regionally and nationally supporting arts programming and business training for artists.

An active member of her tribal community, Dawn served as the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s Tribal Secretary for two terms and currently serves as chair on the Narragansett Indian Tribal Election Committee and vice chair for the Economic Development Commission. In 2014 Dawn and her husband of thirty-eight years formed the Narragansett Food Sovereignty Initiative, a farm-based organization devoted to reclaiming food and cultural ways for Narragansett people. They currently own and operate Ashawaug Farm in Ashaway RI. Dawn also enjoys her role as mother and grandmother. Dawn's work within her family, community, and in the arts is driven by her belief in the preservation and education of culture and traditions.

 

Connect with Dawn

 
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Phone
 
 
 
 

David Lonebear Sanipass

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq

MEDIUM: Painting; Jewelry; Woodwork

ARTIST STATEMENT
My name is David Lonebear Sanipass, I grew up in northern Maine. I am from the Mi’kmaq Nation. I am a carver, make flutes, I paint and sketch. As an artist you want to be able to represent your art. I find the best way is to be able to talk about what it means. Some of what I do is so intricate you’re not really looking at what it means. The representation has been lost through interpretation. Part of the beauty isn't appreciated because it doesn’t speak to you. We have found a way for my art to speak with you, to come from my spirit, so it can be better appreciated and you will know more where I am coming from.

 

Connect with David

Website
 
 
 

Corinna Francis

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Beadwork

 

CONNECT WITH CORINNA

facebook
 
 
 

Chance Griffith

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Maliseet

MEDIUM: Basketry - Other

ARTIST STATEMENT
’Hey there, My name is Chance Griffith I’m 24 years old I grew up in Tucson, Arizona one of the hottest deserts in the world the “Sonoran” desert I’m also a U.S Tribal member I’m apart of the “The MALISEET Tribe “located in Northern” Maine” being far away from my culture and community inspired me to do self searching learning all the history of my tribe. My father “Aron Griffith” is a Birch bark basket maker my father would often travel back to our reservation in Maine to harvest birch bark to make traditional/contemporary birch bark art not understanding why birch bark was so important to my people I learned it was used to make shelter, canoes, baskets, traditionally I saw how my father turned something like bark into art that gave me inspiration to create something of my own that I could bring back with my to my reservation and recreate what a modern day indigenous artists are capable of doing outside of the norms of traditional native art making.’

 
 
 

Carrie Hill

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Carrie Hill - DFAI Market Artist

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Akwesasne Mohawk

MEDIUM: Basketry - Ash and Sweetgrass

ARTIST STATEMENT
Carrie Hill is an Akwesasne Mohawk black ash and sweetgrass basket artist. The tradition of weaving goes back many generations of Carrie’s family, and her first teacher was her Aunt.

Carrie’s work has a contemporary approach using traditional materials of black ash and sweetgrass. Her work has been sent all over the world, including an entire collection representing the Haudenosaunee People for the U.S. Embassy in Swaziland, Africa. Carries has participated in art markets and art shows, as well as teaches and demonstrates.

 
 
 

Carolyn Anderson

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Maliseet

MEDIUM: Painting/Illustration

BIOGRAPHY
Carolyn is a visual artist living in Houlton, Maine. Carolyn is a 2013 graduate from the University of Maine at Presque Isle where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with painting and photography concentrations, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education.

Carolyn started out with a desire for photography and fell into a love for painting. Her medium of choice is acrylics but at times using other mediums as well. Inspiration for her work comes from her hometown, nature and her tribe The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.

Carolyn currently has work available for sale at the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, The Pines Grill in Monticello and The Wolastoq Inn in Houlton.

 

Connect with Carolyn

FACEBOOK
 
 
 

Caleb Hoffman

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Cherokee, Penobscot

MEDIUM: Basketry

ARTIST STATEMENT
Caleb Hoffman (Cherokee/Penobscot born 1991) has been making baskets since he was 8 yrs old and represents the 7th generation of Wabanaki basketmakers in his family. He first learned to weave from his Penobscot mother, Theresa Secord. As a youth, he attended many Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) community basketry workshops, festivals, and markets over 20 yrs, and had access to a number of Wabanaki artists and teachers. In 2023, he became an apprentice to Jeremy Frey, a Passamaquoddy basketmaker and recent MacArthur Genius Fellow. Caleb is also a studio worker, helping to prepare weaving materials; including cutting down ash trees, pounding the logs, splitting, scraping and gauging the wood. Caleb participated in his f irst Santa Fe Indian Market in August 2024, as an adult juried artist and was honored to win the Best of Basketry award. Since then, he has won awards for his basketry in Santa Fe in 2025 and in the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix in 2026. He also weaves baskets for significant museum collections and exhibitions and for private collections.

 
 
 

Brenda Moore-Mitchell

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Brenda Moore-Mitchell - DFAI Market Artist

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Basketry

ARTIST STATEMENT
I was taught basketry by Gal Frey. My focus is teaching art classes at Woluhke, a Makers Space through the Indian Health Services at Pleasant Point. I currently create many art forms at my shop, Wabanaki Natural, in Sipayik, which I created in 2019.

 
 
 

Bonnie Murphy

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq

MEDIUM: Beadwork

 
 
 

Belinda Dawn Miliano

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Belinda Miliano - DFAI Market artist

TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Beadwork

BIOGRAPHY
Belinda Dawn Miliano is a contemporary beadwork artist, and member of the Passamaquoddy Nation in Sipayik. Belinda has been intrigued with indigenous beadwork art since a young girl, self taught in creation of dream catchers, and mentored by an elder within the tribal community as a young adult for beadwork. Belinda transforms beading into captivating wearables, using traditional materials in combination of modern accents. She is passionate about creating unique pieces and pushing creative boundaries.

 
 
 

Aron Griffith

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Maliseet

MEDIUM: Basketry - Other

BIOGRAPHY
Aron Griffith, a Maliseet artist who resides in Maine & the Southwest, took on basket making in his early 30s & found a career that fulfilled his goal to raise awareness of the Maliseet traditions and culture. As an artist, he works with Maliseet traditional designs & concepts on birch bark which he gathers in the North Woods & Canada.

Aron is self taught and has developed his own unique style, including his birch bark dolls, burden baskets & rattles. Each piece of bark is selected carefully & with respect to the birch tree. Etchings are done using a needle or awl & usually decorated with sweetgrass, spruce root and brown ash. Aron’s baskets are functional pieces as well as decorative & his designs represent various animal and plant life.

Birch bark basketry has been made for centuries by Maliseet people of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, a beautiful and unique art form that has remained with only a few artisans left in our community. Aron has produced several significant works that have been on display and for sale at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

 
 
 

April Lola

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TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy

MEDIUM: Diverse Arts

BIOGRAPHY
April Lola is a Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) artist from Motahkomikuk (Indian Township). A mother of two Passamaquoddy and Maliseet daughters and a graduate student in clinical counseling, she turned to botanical framed art as a way to carve out time for creativity and self-care amidst her busy life.

Born and raised on the Motahkomikuk reservation, her home was filled with art, April was deeply influenced by her mother, a respected beader known for her intricate dream catchers. She gravitated toward floral art, preserving foraged and gifted flowers over time. Inspired by the beauty and significance of these natural elements, she began incorporating medicines of the four directions and themes of feminine strength into her work. Through silhouettes of the divine feminine, she tells stories of resilience, empowerment, and connection to the land.