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Penobscot Basket Maker

"When I floundered the most coming back to my tradition and where I came from was my salvation."

Barbara Francis had been away for five years when she came back home to Indian Isle, Maine, in 1977. She was twenty years old, alone, and with no home to go to. Alberta Nicola and Violet Frances Shay had been basket makers all their lives. They took Barbara in, gave her a home, and taught her the basics of basket making. Through their stories and tales they gave her a deeper understanding of her Penobscot heritage. But more importantly, at that time, they provided what she needed most of all - quiet comfort and reassurance. Barbara was pregnant, deserted, and searching for a place in this world. She began to find it here with these two old Indian women. Barbara says "They were so superstitious in the old ways, the two old women said, `You are going to have a boy and he's going to have a noose around his neck.' And it turned out I had a boy and his umbilical cord was around his neck." Her son, Nedabeh, was born on December 27th, 1977. Barbara's place was coming more and more into focus. Alberta and Violet taught Barbara how to make bookmarks and button boxes and had gotten her through a difficult time in her life. However, it wasn't until years later when her grandmother, Francine, suggested that she make baskets with her that Barbara began to learn more complicated forms and intricate weaves. Soon, she surpassed her grandmother's talents for weaving and started to come up with designs of her own. After seeing Barbara's talent emerge renowned basket maker, Rose Clark, not only passed on her knowledge of basket making to Barbara but also her wooden blocks that she had used all her life and had, in turn, received from her ancestors. Others that helped Barbara along the way include Fred Nicola; her aunt, Eunice Crowley; grandmother, Doris Daigle and many others whose names and lives have long since passed, but whose spirits play on in the hands of basket makers like Barbara Francis.

"For me, Rosie Clark and these old basket makers, they are here all the time. They are part of me. Part of my work. And they are part of the process of passing it on to the next generation. Each one of them gave me something. I feel like I am walking in their footsteps right behind them".