Floral Passamaquoddy Basket Signed Irene Newell 1975

Description

This is a floral basket made and signed in 1975 by Irene Newell – Basket Maker from Indian Township, Passamaquoddy. This was acquired in the 1990’s from Susan Stevens who had been married to the past Indian Township Governor, John Stevens. This basket was made while I was working at the Maine tribal Unity Museum directed by Peter Terry. His work in Maine was to do what he could to encourage a revival of basket weaving. I saw him pay twice what was asked for baskets to encourage more weaving. His collection is now at the Abbe museum in Maine. This basket by Irene Newell is an example of the wonderful creativity Wôbanaki people were keeping alive – even during this period of poverty before federal recognition in the 1980’s, we had our languages and cultures still strong as this basket by Irene Newell demonstrates. The basket is 11″ in length x 9″ width x 7.5″ Height.