Caron Shay (Penobscot Nation, b. 1946), Lidded Basket, 2002, brown ash and sweetgrass.
Caron Shay (Penobscot Nation, b. 1946), Lidded Basket, 2002, 3 ¾ x 3 ⅛ inches, brown ash and sweetgrass. Museums Collections, Gift of Leslie & Virginia Tronzo.
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Museums Collections Focus

The Museums Collections encompass a wide variety of objects acquired by the University of Delaware from 1917 to the present day. Museums Collections Focus is a series of online exhibitions that provides a bite-sized introduction to the diversity of these holdings, from Renaissance prints and ceramics by Indigenous makers to mineral specimens and contemporary photography. Organized by theme or medium, these focused exhibitions offer new ways to engage with objects in the collections.

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Braided Sweetgrass & Pounded Ash: Contemporary Wabanaki Baskets

The baskets in this exhibition come from the hands of contemporary Wabanaki basket makers. Made from brown ash (also known as black ash) and sweetgrass, these vessels display remarkable explorations of these materials’ properties. The works shown here are part of the Museums’ growing collection of baskets by contemporary Native American artists.

This online exhibition features the work of Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township Reservation), Clara Neptune Keezer (Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik [or Pleasant Point]), Rocky Keezer (Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik [or Pleasant Point]), Caron Shay (Penobscot Nation), Paula Thorne (Penobscot Nation), and Fred Tomah (Houlton Band of Maliseet). Each artist displays a distinctive style while taking inspiration from shared forms and patterns learned from parents, grandparents, friends, and elders.

The University of Delaware occupies lands vital to the web of life for Lenape and Nanticoke, who share their ancestry, history, and future in this region.

Credit

Online exhibition curated by Julia Hamer-Light, a Ph.D. candidate in Art History and the 2022-2023 Graduate Research Assistant for Museums.

Thumbnail-sized images of copyrighted works are displayed under fair use. As a service to the public and the scholarly community, the Museums may make larger images of copyrighted works available in the online collection catalog. If you wish to use such images for commercial purposes you must seek permission from the copyright holder.