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Miniature Baskets by Jeanne Brink

Title

Miniature Baskets by Jeanne Brink

Description

Miniature Baskets, Ash splint and Sweetgrass, Abenaki

Jeanne Brink's Famous Abenaki Baskets

Abenaki basketmaker, Jeanne Brink keeps her culture and her grandmother's spirit alive by weaving baskets (like the ones shown below) with traditional materials, such as brown ash and sweet grass. Known for her miniature fancy baskets, Jeanne Brink often uses sweetgrass as it is easily maneuverable when doing minute details (Bruchac 63-68). A basket often shows a basket maker's personality and Brink uses various techniques in her basketmaking that mark the basket as specifically hers (63-68). For example, she is known for using a green candy-stripe pattern in her baskets by incorporating sweetgrass to create a subtle swirl around a basket's lid and sides (63-68). The baskets shown below are made with a combination of sweetgrass and both dyed and un-dyed ash splints ("We're Still Here").

Learning The Tradition of Basket Making

Jeanne Brink first became interested in basketmaking when she was little while watching her grandmother make baskets ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). However, it was not until she grew into an adult that she realized that her grandmother represented a living history ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink."). Her grandmother, Elvine Obomsawin, told a story in Abenaki of the Abenaki version of "Rogers' Raid" ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). The story was recorded and then translated by Gordon Day and eventually became the basis of Malian's Song ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). Please click here for various audio links of Jeanne Brink speaking about her grandmother. But it was her grandmother's dexterous weaving that sparked Jeanne Brink to investigate the tradition of basketmaking ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). Brink attended one basketmaking class from a non-native, only to return frustrated with an unfinished basket ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). After a visit with her mother, Brink discovered the Abenaki tradition of basketmaking students first starting by making hundreds of bookmarks to get the technique down before finally making a basket ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink"). Brink spent the next four years making bookmarks until she took an apprenticeship with a fellow Abenaki basketmaker, Sophie Nolette, from Odanak ("Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink").

Teaching The Tradition of Basket Making

After mastering the art of basket making, Jeanne Brink began to give back to the community by teaching others what she knew. Brink takes on various apprentices to pass on the basketmaking tradition ("New Hampshire Traditional Arts & Folklife Listing"). One of her apprentices, Sherry Gould, is also featured in this exhibit. Education is very important to Jeanne Brink and does not limit her teaching to basketmaking. In fact, she serves as a Native American consultant to various schools and even participates in various Abenaki language camps ("New Hampshire Traditional Arts & Folklife Listing"). Language camps are very successful in preserving and reviving the Abenaki language and Brink does her part by hosting them at her home (Pouliot, "Abenaki Language Camps" 5). In addition to the language camps, Brink often collaborates with others of Abenaki heritage to preserve the culture (Pouliot, "Abenaki Artisan Collaborative" 6). In 2010, Brink contributed to L8dwaw8gan Wji Abaznodakaw8gan: The Language of Basketmaking, a book by Jesse Bruchac that combines language and basketmaking as a way of sparking interest in the Abenaki language. It is through this cycle of teaching and learning that Abenaki culture and language is revived.

Works Cited

Bruchac, Jesse Bowman, Elie Alfred Joseph Joubert, and Jeanne Brink. L8dwaw8gan Wji Abaznodakaw8gan: The Language of Basket Making. New York: Greenfield Center, 2010. Print.

"New Hampshire Traditional Arts & Folklife Listing." New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. State of New Hampshire, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2013.

Pouliot, Paul. Abenaki Artisan Collaborative." Aln8bak News Oct-Nov-Dec. 2009: 6.

---."Abenaki Language Camp." Aln8bak News April-May-June. 2010: 6.

"Voices of Vermont Women: Jeanne Brink." Womenspeak: Voices of Vermont Women. Vermont Folklife Center, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2013.

"We're Still Here" Online Exhibit. Center For New England Culture. University of New Hampshire. N.d. Web.

Photograph Copyright 2005, University of New Hampshire Photographic Services

Creator

Brink, Jeanne

Date

n.d.

Type

Still Image

Format

jpeg

Identifier

DV-289

Geolocation

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