Last weekend I went to the Maine State museum with my friend Margaret, she's an architectural historian and she likes Bar B Q so we get along. She wanted to see the Wabenaki textile exhibit and I have been reading a book by the Museum's anthropology and archeology director Bruce Bourque titled Twelve Thousand Years American Indians in Maine. I beleive that Wabenaki is a modern collective 'nation' name for the small surviving collection of tribes inhabiting the the Acadian peninsula... I think. That would be largely tribes as far west as Lake Champlain Maine New Hampshire and Vermont and north east through Quebec New brunswick and Nova scotia. At least those were the general ranges of the historic northeast tribes just prior to 'first contact' with europeans. I have to look into it further, I'm very curious when the name 'Wabenaki' was first uttered.
In any case the exhibit had many fine examples of native crafts. maybe I can put some dates on things later.
So I am interested in many aspect of native life, beginning with pre contact native survival techniques. How they used the plants and stones around them to develop agriculture and hunt and fish, cook and store food. Of course my friend Margaret wanted to know what they lived in.
So the sweeping lines on this powder horn and on the robe above are decorations discussed as distinct of tribes of the Wabenaki and there are styles within the style that can be distinguished as from a particular tribe. So little precontact evidence exists it seems that it is difficult to know the origins of the style.
This piece made me think of Mayan figures compressed and stacked like in a Mayan calendar. eg. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-april-7-2011-jamie-oliver
A Sachum 'chief' coat. Obviously post contact.
A wampum belt. Symbolically distributed to announce a forthcoming meeting of tribes.
The shell beads were made by the dutch in New Amsterdam and were like a narcotic to the indians who traded madly for them. The Dutch ended up supplying the English colony with them too because it was causing unrest with tribes along inland trading territories
The pinnacle of native female fashion.
A sweet papoose with side venting and carved detail
Other exhibits in the Museum include an entire 18th c. water powered wood working mill. These wooden butter stamps might be feasible in ceramic.
Some really amazing clogs...with steel ...call the farrier my heel's come off.
The atlatel...making one of these this summer.
Back to native stuff, and what I really went to see, Late archaic 'Ceramic Period' pots, maybe 2300 years old. Coil formed and paddled into shape, decorated with textured stamps and cordage. The explanation of why they had pointed bottoms is weak but probably true that their coils were begun in a small hole dug in the earth.
A rare example of a birch bark canoe with a european style sail. Maine's Indians were reported to have quickly adapted to european sailing vessels and sometimes commandeered them...I just want to see that in a period movie someday!
More pottery but this was a collection of mostly 19th century Maine potteries wares. There was a potter in the collection who worked in Hollis just a mile or two away.
Picture of an old pottery further down east.
So I did actually do some trowing this week. Oh and some high voltage wiring. I feel like I spent the whole week wedging and watering clay though. I think I had an epiphany too. I think I have been wedging in the wrong direction. I switched it up and everything seemed much easier. More throwing will verify.
Time to start throwing flower pots!
Huh? What's this?
It's a...
Kiln!
Yay!
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