Skowhegan History House to host meet-and-greet Sept. 27

The Skowhegan History House Museum & Research Center plans to host a meet-and-greet event with Larry and Debbie Onie, collectors of Wabanaki Fancy Baskets.

The event takes place from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, at the 66 Elm St. History House.

People can stop in to see some of their baskets on display in the Lee Granville Gallery. The Onies have collected Wabanaki Fancy Baskets since 1978. The baskets date from the early 1800s to the present.

Theirs is one of the largest privately or publicly held collections of its kind and forms an important historic record of American art. It includes outstanding examples of every form of fancy basket created by the Wabanaki, according to a news release from Patricia Horine, board president.

One of the oldest forms of art, basket making has been practiced by Maine’s Penobscot, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Maliseet people, collectively known as the Wabanaki, or “People of the Dawn.” Basket making is both an integral part of Wabanaki tradition and culture as well as a means of endowing future generations.

While the earliest examples of Wabanaki baskets were utilitarian work baskets used in food preparation, fishing and gathering, by the mid-1800s the Wabanaki gradually added a new genre, the “fancy” basket. These more decorative, ornamented, yet also utilitarian, baskets — made in a variety of shapes, colors and weaves — were sought by affluent tourists and “rusticators” who flocked to Maine’s resort communities, in part, as avid collectors of these artworks.

During this period, the Wabanaki established encampments in Maine resort towns like Bar Harbor, Poland Springs and Belgrade Lakes to sell their highly-desired baskets to visitors, an exchange which fostered cross-cultural interaction. Wabanaki basket makers did not produce baskets for the wholesale market, and therefore their baskets remained varied and original, ranging from vibrant colors and patterns to refined and elegant one-of-a-kind baskets.

While basket makers did not begin signing their work until the 1980s, distinctive weave patterns were often associated with specific families of basket weavers and younger family members are often able to identify and date makers and variations in styles. Basket making among the Wabanaki continues to be an intergenerational cultural attribute which binds the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Penobscot people together in a shared tradition.

The baskets will be on display until Friday, Sept. 29. The Skowhegan History House is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, until Sept. 29.

For more information, visit skowheganhistoryhouse.org.

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