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Nestled in the tiny Markell Gallery at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is an exquisite exhibition
entitled "Innovation and Resilience Across Three Generations of Wabanaki Basket Making." The thirty-five stunning examples of Maine Native American art provide an oasis of
serenity and strength. There is geometry and texture, subtle color and palpable spiritual substance to these works which represent both historical basket weaving and
contemporary craft of the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseer, and Micmac tribes.
Wabanaki Nation artists have created baskets since time immemorial. When they were forced off their lands during the period of European
colonialization, basket making became a tool for economic independence and resistance to assimilation. From the 19th century onwards, the Wabanaki have imbued utilitarian
forms with aesthetic expression, creating "fancy baskets" and works of art which preserve and celebrate tribal culture.
Curated by members of Bowdoin's Native American Students Association, the exhibition offers a primer on the harmony of form and function in
the works of generations of Wabanaki artists like the Neptune Family. Historical photographs accompany the baskets to provide context for this timeless tradition.
 
Perhaps the most striking feature about these creations is the elegant
combination of utility and beauty in each of the designs. Take the neatly folded pouch with its circular clasps..suitable for carrying any number of
items, but as lovely as a woman's evening purse. Then there is the round basket with sixteen feet, mirrored on the lid by the same number of
protruding spikes; the overall feeling projected is one of a sunburst of energy in the pale flaxen color of the straw.
A similarly arresting piece is the hat-shaped basket, designed to hold
tissues, in two shades of neutrals- beige and darker brown. Like the trim on a piece of millinery, the basket is wrapped in loops of wide ribbon-like
reeds that give it a festive appearance.
Another larger basket in buttery honey hue has a similar band of swirling
reeds, matched on the lid with curly cues that turn a relatively simple design into something far more special.
 
An open oval basket with side handles plays with an overlay of six-sided
figures in a decorative band and tiny spiked feet to balance and steady the design. An open rectangular letter holder ornaments the rolling columns
of the weave with tiny flower motifs. In all of these pattern and texture take precedence in creating visual variety.
Other baskets eschew the decorative overlay for an economy that reminds
of the Shaker aesthetic. Among the simplest of these, an open basket with handle in bleached tones projects strength and straightforward appeal, but
a closer look reveals the subtle way in which the weave changes direction and texture, creating its own plainspoken elegance.
 
Or there is the pineapple shaped pair of baskets with curling stem and hob
-nailed texture. So, too, with the double decker honey colored lidded basket with its sturdy solid handle where the juxtaposition of the weave on
top and bottom creates a pleasant tension.
Then there are the truly elaborate collectors' baskets – designed
unapologetically to be focal points for the eye. Many of these use color, created by dyes, and ornament the basket itself with flowers, animals, and
other images of the natural world. Some are primarily geometric compositions enlivened by color as well as pattern, as in the lidded blue
and beige upright basket that uses the diagonal contrast of twisted rope-like overlay against the horizonal weave.
 
Or there is the lovely bleached bulbous lidded basket ornamented on top
with a sunflower that blossoms with energy and the more squat blue and flaxen lidded basket with a bright blue cornflower with corn silk adorning
the lid. By adding the element of color, textures can be more dramatically emphasized – as in this object where the crisscross work brings out the blue band.
Perhaps the two single most striking pieces of the exhibition are by Molly
Neptune Parker and George Neptune. Large and eloquent, they offer a feast for the eye. Molly Neptune's lidded basket in flaxen and caramel hues
combines a section of flat weave using vertical stripes of color topped by an exuberant five rows of soft hued weave with projecting spikes, finished off
by a dark rolling lip wrapped in contrasting ties. The lid repeats the circle of contrast with the center inner circle a more tightly gathered profusion of
spiked projections which seem like organic growth around the centerpiece – a large petaled flower and leaves.
George Neptune's tall cylindrical basket in shades of slate blue is stunning
for the lyrical bird which perches - as if in mid-flight- on the lid. But closer examination reveals that despite the monochromatic choice, the shape
dictates almost five different weave textures on the cylinder and the lid is adorned with four pinwheels of bi-color pattern, one of which serves as a perch for the bird.
Perhaps the appeal of this exhibition is in its deceptive simplicity: few,
carefully chosen artifacts – seemingly modest in their import, yet remarkably detailed and layered upon closer examination. Using materials
from the land – plants, reeds, dyes, the Wabanaki artists create works that are in harmony with the earth. Channeling the gift of centuries of tribal
vision, these basket makers tease from their materials an inner beauty and transform that essence into something tangible to celebrate both the senses and the spirit.
Innovation & Resilience in Three Generations of Wabanaki Basket Makers
is on view at the Bowdoin College Museum in Brunswick, Maine until
May 1, 2022. www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum/
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