Boundless K-12 Curriculum: KINSHIP & CONTINUANCE

THERESA SECORD

A circular, finely woven basket and lid composed of dyed red, green, yellow, and brown sweetgrass. Adhered to the inside of the basket is a black and white photo of the artists grandmother behind a table of baskets. The wall behind her has a sign that reads, "INDIAN BASKETS SOLD HERE."

Theresa Secord (Penobscot- American, born 1958)

Penobscot Sewing Basket, 2023
Ash and braided sweetgrass, cedar bark, velvet photograph
Museum purchase with William K. Allison (Class of 1920) Memorial Fund
2023.03

ABOUT THE MAKER

Theresa Secord is a Penobscot basketmaker from Maine. She weaves traditional baskets from sweetgrass and ash using tools and wooden forms handed down from her great-grandmother. She has spent her career working to save the endangered art of ash and sweetgrass basketry. Theresa learned to weave from an elder in her community. She continues to pass along the traditional knowledge of basketmaking to others, using the same wooden tools passed down to her from her great-grandmother, Philemon Solace Nelson. Today, she teaches the next generation of Penobscot weavers how to make baskets using traditional techniques and materials.

I think it is important for our communities to work to protect our traditional cultural expressions, as well as to learn more about how we can protect them.

— Theresa Secord, from the interview:
Theresa Secord and Preserving the Art of Indigenous Basket Weaving in the United States) 

Being able to have a spiritual connection with the materials–the ash and the sweetgrass–that makes me feel close to my ancestors and my teacher. So, I feel really honored to be able to weave in this tradition and use the materials in a respectful way.

— Theresa Secord,
from the video: Theresa Secord – Penobscot Basket Weaver 

Additional Resources

VISIt Theresa Secord’s WEBSITE
In the Studio with theresa record
ON the history of ash basket making

Learn about other objects in CONTINUANCE and KINSHIP:

An oil painting of an older woman with dark hair wearing a white bonnet and dark dress.

How can portraits help us understand the past?

Quillwork on a birch bark book cover.

Why does continuing the use of traditional knowledge matter?

A circular, finely woven basket and lid composed of dyed red, green, yellow, and brown sweetgrass. Adhered to the inside of the basket is a black and white photo of the artists grandmother behind a table of baskets. The wall behind her has a sign that reads, "INDIAN BASKETS SOLD HERE."

What can we learn by keeping traditional practices alive?

Two wooden carved canoe paddles hanging on a wall.

How can art tell the story of resilience and survival?

A basket with a photograph at the bottom of the basket of a woman selling baskets.

In what ways do objects connect us to the past?

Two screen prints based on traditional Lakota dresses.

How does connecting with culture influence a person’s identity?

Freehand pyrography on winter birchbark

What are the ways that social or cultural identity link people over time and distance?

A woven drawstring bag.

Why is it important to acknowledge both shared aspects of culture and individual cultural ancestry?

overlapping concentric circles made by ripples in water.

Boundless K-12 Curriculum

* YouTube links to audiovisual materials shared by other creators are included in the curriculum. For more information, including for captioning and transcripts of the suggested audiovisual materials, please contact the audio/video content creators.