2016 was a good year for traditional ash Wabanaki basket weaver Theresa Secord (Penobscot Nation). In June 2016 she was named a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation National Artist Fellow, and in September honored as a National Endowment for the…
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced on June 30, 2016 awards to nine artists, among them three of Native heritage: NACF 2015 Artist Fellow Clarissa Rizal (Tlingit T’ak Dein…
As the founding executive director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Theresa Secord has dedicated her life to learning, revitalizing and perpetuating the tradition of Wabanaki basket making.
The Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) is the premier basketmaking organization on the east coast, functioning as a collective and fostering the preservation of traditional basketmaking practices. In 1993 tribal baskemakers from the four federally recognized tribes in Maine (Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot) realized there were fewer than a dozen weavers younger than the age of 50 statewide amongst a tribal population of 6,000 and decided to create a pathway to teach this traditional art form.
