Weaving Together

Abenaki Basket Making
Mentor Artist: Jeanne Brink

Abenaki basketmaker Jeanne Brink and her apprentice. Supported by the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program of the Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury Vermont. Audio slideshow by Ned Castle.

A mother and her son sit quietly at the living room table, their bodies hunched intently over the contents of hands that are hard at work. White ash is the material that they will transform from rough strips to intricately woven baskets—a tradition passed between generations of Abenaki for hundreds of years.