Clara Keezer Brown Ash and Braided Sweetgrass Basket

Clara Keezer Brown Ash and Sweetgrass Basket

The Wabanaki tribes of Maine, many of whom lived inland during winter and on the coast in the summer, began making fancy baskets in the late 1800’s. Fancy baskets are more delicate than the utilitarian baskets made for carrying or storing goods. The tribal members sold utilitarian baskets, fancy baskets, canoes, and other wares to vacationers in the coastal resorts.

Clara Keezer, a Passamaquoddy Indian born in 1930, was one of the women who kept the art of fancy basket making alive into the present. With the demise of coastal travel by the Indians, and the loss of the market, demand for fancy baskets dropped. Women like Clara Keezer held onto their basket making traditions, made innovations in designs, and share(d) their skills with younger generations.

This basket was woven by Clara Keezer in 1997 from natural colored ash and braided sweetgrass.

6 in. diameter x 6 1/2 in. high, including ribbon finial.