The Hendricks Hill Museum, Southport is honored to host Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) basket maker, Debbie Nicholas, for two sessions on Saturday, July 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the Southport Town Hall. This event will be culturally interactive and demonstrate traditional Wabanaki basket making techniques utilizing ash and sweetgrass.

Wabanaki is a term that refers to, "People of the Dawnland" or "People of the First Light,” and it is a reference to First Nations and Native American Tribes whose ancestral homelands have existed for over 13,000 years and stretch from Newfoundland, to Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and parts of Quebec, Canada. This includes the Mi'kmaq Nation, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Penobscot Nation, and Abenaki First Nations.

Debbie travels to Southport from Sipayik (Pleasant Point, Maine), and she comes from a long line of Passamaquoddy basket makers including her mother, Edith Neptune Pond, who picked sweetgrass with her brothers and sisters and was renown for her fine sweetgrass braids which other basket makers use for their fancy baskets. Her uncle, Peter Neptune makes larger baskets, such as backpacks. He braids sweetgrass making wide braids that use 15 strands, and her aunts Theresa Neptune Gardner, Angela Neptune Barnes, and Clara Neptune Keezer (National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts), were all traditional basket makers and instilled in her the importance of keeping the tradition of keeping basket making alive and passing it on to the next generation.

Growing up, Debbie, watched her brother and uncle pound ash (a traditional Wabanaki practice of striking ash logs with the back of an axe or a mallet to separate the wood's growth rings into thin, flexible splints for basket making. This process releases a rhythmic, drum-like sound—sometimes called the "heartbeat" of the community). She was 16 years old when she started making baskets and apprenticed with her aunt Clara, who taught her how to make strawberry, blueberry, and fancy baskets and encouraged her to create her own designs. To this day Debbie’s family harvests its own sweetgrass which is incorporated into their baskets and braids just as their ancestors did for centuries before them.

Debbie participates in the Wabanaki Arts Market at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester in August and the Wabanaki Winter Market at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono in December. She enjoys creating a new basket designs and loves a challenge - see her wedding cake basket which took three months to complete and is featured at the University of Maine’s Hudson Museum - https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/transforming-traditions/kenny-keezer-and-debbie-nicolas/

This very special Wabanaki cultural event is limited to 25 individuals per session and pre-registration is required. Email hendrickshillmuseum@gmail.com to reserve your seat.