Indian Holiday Market basketmakers featured in PMA show

Four Native American artists who participate in the Hudson Museum’s Maine Indian Basketmakers Holiday Market at the University of Maine also have baskets showcased in the Portland Museum of Art’s biennial “You Can’t Get There from Here.”

Penobscot artists Theresa Secord and Sarah Sockbeson and Passamaquoddy artists Jeremy Frey and George Neptune have artwork in the PMA show on exhibit through Jan. 3, 2106.

Those artists and about 50 others will be at the 2015 Maine Indian Basketmakers Holiday Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Collins Center for the Arts on the Orono campus.

The 21st annual holiday gathering of Maine Indian artists has become the largest event of its type in New England, says Gretchen Faulkner, director of the Hudson Museum.

The free-admission market features members of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance who have received national awards as well as artists representing the next generation of weavers.

Sockbeson, who grew up hearing stories about her great-grandmother Elsie Tomer weaving baskets in early 1900s, is one talented member of the next generation.

Earlier this year, she earned a first-place ribbon and a second-place ribbon at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

The 31-year-old embraces the modern world and enjoys combining natural elements with bright colors and original designs.

“I think as an artist there is always the desire to push boundaries and innovate, no matter what medium you choose to work with,” she says. “For me, I really like to use bold, modern colors in my baskets as I love the contrast between old and new, contemporary and traditional, natural and unnatural.”

She also feels a responsibility to honor her ancestors who practiced the art of basketry long before she was born.

“As Native People, we have a long history of being resourceful and utilizing materials we have available to us in creative ways,” she says. “Our art has never stopped evolving and continues to change with the times, as we market our work to current audiences and acclimate to our current environments.”

Alison Ferris, curator of “You Can’t Get There from Here” at PMA, says that connection to the past is one reason the exquisite works of Sockbeson, Secord, Frey and Neptune are part of the biennial.

“Artists from the Wabanaki tribes were the first artists in Maine, and the fact that art forms from these traditions are still being practiced thousands of years later is remarkable,” she said in an article in the Portland Press Herald.

Sockbeson says until the PMA show, most of the exhibits she took part in were Native American art exhibits.

“I am very excited and honored to have been chosen to be included in this particular exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art,” she says. “I think it is another step forward having our Native American, traditional, cultural art showcased as fine art.”

The Maine Indian Basketmakers Holiday Market is much more than a sale, says Faulkner.

“Visitors can learn about Maine Indian history and culture, hear Wabanaki languages and explore the museum’s Maine Indian Gallery,” she says. “It has been wonderful to see individuals who came to this event as children, who are now artists continuing these ancient traditions.”

Sockbeson, who views herself as an artist and an educator, agrees.

“When I attend this show I am not just there to sell my work, I am also there to educate and be a resource for people wanting to learn more,” she says.

“Educating as many people as possible has become a welcome and fortunate side effect of participating in various art markets in and outside of Maine,” she says. “I can only hope that by extending the web of educated persons, I will be in turn, encouraging future artists, as well as aid(ing) in the fostering of appreciation for contemporary native art in today’s world.”

At the holiday market, raffle tickets for a chance to win a basket created by Jeremy and Ganessa Frey will be sold. For more information and to purchase raffle tickets, contact Faulkner at 207.581.1904.

The Dec. 12 schedule includes: a welcome ceremony with Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis at 10 a.m.; traditional Penobscot songs with Kelly Demmons, Penobscot, at 10:30 a.m.; a brown ash-pounding demonstration with Eldon Hanning, Micmac, at 11 a.m.; a children’s beading workshop with Donna Brown, Penobscot, in the Hudson Museum Maine Indian Gallery, at 11:30 a.m.; a fancy basket demonstration with Ganessa Frey, Penobscot, at noon; a basswood fiber rope-making demonstration with Barry Dana, Penobscot, at 1 p.m.; a children’s workshop with George Neptune, Passamaquoddy, in the Hudson Museum’s Maine Indian Gallery, at 1:30 p.m.; and a performance by the Burnurwurbskek Singers at 2 p.m.

A question-and-answer with Sockbeson is online.

Contact: Beth Staples, 207.581.3777