Peter Neptune, a Passamaquoddy Elder, learned as a child how to make baskets from his father. Basketmaking continues to provide the family with much needed income. Peter’s sisters, Theresa Neptune Gardner (1935-2004), Clara Keezer (1930-2016), and Angela Barnes (1920-2003) were known for their fancy baskets that featured both brown ash and sweetgrass. His sister Edith […]

Barry Dana, Penobscot Culture Bearer In 1995, the Hudson Museum created an exhibit “Tree and Tradition: Brown Ash and Native American Basketmaking”, and as part of that exhibit, the Museum hosted its first Wabanaki Art Market. Barry Dana joined us at this inaugural show, with his birchbark baskets for sale. Since then, he has not […]

Theresa Secord (b.1958) is a traditional Penobscot basket maker. Theresa learned to weave in a traditional setting on Indian Island Maine in 1988 from an elder in the community, Madeline Tomer Shay. She uses her great-grandmother’s wooden forms and tools dating to the 1800s that have been handed down to her. Theresa is teaching many […]

It isn’t a Wabanaki Winter Market at the Hudson Museum without Eldon Hanning – Mi’kmaq – demonstrating brown ash pounding and the preparation of splints to weave baskets. Eldon Hanning and his son Frank are some of the only basketmakers, who can select a brown ash tree in the woods. Father and son split the […]