Basketmakers nurture tradition of innovation

In the early 1990s the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance was formed with 55 founding members, comprised of elders from the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes. Theresa Secord, the executive director of the alliance, remembers that the average age of the first founding members was 55. "Now, because of their efforts, we have between 150 and 200 basketmakers, with an average age of 40. Sadly, a lot of the founding members are gone. They did not get to see the younger basketmakers who are now thriving."
One of the new generation of basketmakers is a young Passamaquoddy man from Indian Township. Jeremy Frey was recently recognized with a $50,000 grant from the private organization United States Artist for the exceptional quality of his basketmaking. Secord says, "Jeremy is 32 years old. He is the youngest to have received that award." She says of the elders who came before them and preserved and taught the traditional skills, "They would be extremely proud." Frey says, "Being acknowledged nationally is huge for me."

Keeping the tradition alive
The grant to Frey has been a validation of the alliance's work, Secord says. Frey also credits the alliance and says that, if it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else.
The alliance first formed out of the Maine Art Commission's apprenticeship program. Secord explains that in the late 1980s a colleague noticed "the decline of elders in the field" of basketmaking. At the time, Secord, a Penobscot, was one of the youngest to enter the basketmaking apprenticeship. The tribal members who taught their skills, she says, "kept the traditions alive."
Frey, like many who have come through the alliance's apprenticeship program, works with the next generation of basketmakers. He doesn't teach his particular style. "I need to make a living," he says with a laugh. But he does teach workshops on a regular basis at Indian Township. He and his wife are working on a gallery space that would help to build "a cultural renaissance for our town C where everyone's welcome" and that would incorporate the "highest of high quality" in its offerings.
Secord notes, "Jeremy is teaching at a very high level." She adds that his personal story is one of extraordinary transformation. Frey does not dwell on the details of his youth, but explains that he first took up basket-weaving at about 21. "I was going nowhere, but then I took up weaving to keep my hands busy." He learned from his mother, Gal Frey, also a celebrated basketmaker, who in turn learned from Sylvia Gabriel. Frey says, "We have younger and younger ages -- now young children are taking classes."

New ideas and innovations
Passing the tradition from generation to generation has taken place for centuries. "We've been making baskets for thousands of years," Secord explains. "Basketmakers have always been contemporary, have always been able to innovate." She points to the development and marketing of specific types of Indian baskets during the Victorian period. Different materials and forms were explored and used at different times and for different purposes. Frey's work with form is just such an example. Both he and Secord mention the reintroduction of red cedar bark as a basketmaking material in Maine. With the threat of the emerald ash borer beetle to the ash forests of the country, a material such as red cedar bark may take on increasing importance to the future of basketmaking in the state.
Frey is always working on new ideas for his baskets. "I have a few ideas that I wouldn't even attempt yet. They're designs in process." The fate of the ash tree has had an impact on his designs. He knew that basket-weaving was not something he could give up if ash were to vanish. He has traveled around the country and has met with basketmakers from other tribes, as have other alliance members. "There's a lot of contemporary work going on around the country. Mine is semi‑contemporary here, but very traditional compared to some of that other work."
But it's not just Frey's own work that he is thinking about when it comes to changes in traditional materials. He talks about the documentation that now exists for future generations should ash come back. Videos, photographs and text all exist that explain how to select and pound ash for the materials that are used in traditional basketmaking. The alliance has been working for a number of years with the U.S. Forest Service, the Maine Forest Service and the University of Maine. Secord notes that the pounding of ash is becoming a rare craft. That type of apprenticeship has been hard to cultivate. "It takes an enormous commitment. It is extremely hard and arduous work."
Secord explains that the economic downturn has also made the whole process of ash procurement more difficult. There are fewer buyers for baskets. As basketmakers cut back, they need less ash material. Secord says, "I'm very concerned about what happens next, but our own history and ancestors show us that we will continue to be basketmakers."
She shares her strong feelings of gratitude when she says, "I really want to give credit for the success of the alliance to the elders. Our president Molly Neptune Parker [who is Passamaquoddy] is at the head of a large inter‑generational family of traditional basketmakers. She and others in her generation, like Clara Keezer [also Passamaquoddy] quietly worked hard and sacrificed to keep traditional ash and sweetgrass basketry alive during several decades of the second half of the last century -- when there were no awards and there was very little monetary return for the baskets. Our elders are the true heroes of the basketmaking revival. They have and continue to give selflessly so that we can celebrate and share the gifts of our culture today."