Workshops and Presentation at the Akwesasne Museum

On May 19, 2012, Theresa Secord and Jennifer Neptune held a workshop to create postcards for basket makers at the Akwesasne Museum. Both women are Penobscot basket makers from Maine. Theresa is the executive director and Jennifer is the program manager of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance.

Seventeen people from Akwesasne participated in the project. It was a great session, with people of many ages participating and a wide variety of black ash splint creations photographed. Some highlights were a biplane model by Curtis Terrance, a basket that was selected for the Pope at Kateri Tekakwitha Canonization by Sheila Ransom, and a sampling of baskets by the late Charlotte Delormier brought in by her granddaughter Crystal Bay. A second session will be held in October to train artists who work in any media, in marketing their work.

During lunch there was a presentation of research documents on the preservation and restoration of black ash trees given to the museum for safe-keeping and access to the community. Businesses, individuals and organizations in Akwesasne have documents that can provide insight into our history and culture - the quantity of material is too great for any of our existing archives or the museum. We are in need of a large facility in Akwesasne that can ensure access to knowledge on the activities of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Documents are useful in education, research and in substantiating legal claims. We are hoping to make our dream of a new facility come true, but in the meantime are doing what we can in our existing spaces. A collection of four boxes filled with papers, DVD, slides, and photos of the activities of our environmentalists in the Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment (ATFE) were presented to the museum.

Les Benedict (Black Ash Project Coordinator, Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment), Richard David (Mohawk Council of Akwesasne environment department-retired), David Arquette (Haudenosaunee Task Force on the Environment) and Craig Arquette (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment and also chairperson of ATFE) were at the museum to say a few words and spread the word about the work that has gone on, and continues, to ensure the survival of our main basket making material, namely black ash. We, as a community owe a debt of gratitude to them all. Les currently has trees to give away for planting to anyone interested, and also has 2 logs available. He can be reached at 358-5937.