Panelists | Performers | Market Artists
Find market artists and participants another way:
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuck
MEDIUM: Woodwork, Jewelry
ARTIST STATEMENT
I create birch bark art featuring pyrography (woodburned) designs. My process includes gathering bark from the trees, cutting the bark to size, free-hand sketching my design, oftentimes cutting out the design, and then finally free-hand burning the design to complete the piece. Occasionally I will do my pyrography work on other natural mediums as well.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy Nation
PANEL TITLE: Recognizing Sovereignty as a Stepping Stone to an Enduring Democracy
BIOGRAPHY
Corey Hinton, Leader of the firm’s Tribal Nations Practice Group, advises Tribal Nations, Tribe-owned entities, and entities that interface with Tribes on federal Indian law and policy, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, employment matters, economic development, environmental and natural resource issues, and the fee-to-trust process. A citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe (Sipayik), Corey draws from a uniquely deep well of experience to deliver significant value to his clients.
Corey has substantial experience with the commercial, transactional, and resource management issues related to natural resources – including Tribal and non-Tribal owned Improved Forest Management (IFM) carbon offset projects. In 2016, he assisted the Passamaquoddy Tribe to establish an IFM that was recognized in California for removing 3.8 million tons of greenhouse gases in furtherance of California’s “cap-and trade” program.
Corey has represented clients before a variety of federal administrative agencies including Indian Health Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of the Interior (including National Indian Gaming Commission, Office of Indian Gaming, Bureau of Indian Education, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Reclamation). Corey also regularly represents clients in government-building, ethics and employment policies, negotiation and administration of Public Law 93-638 programs, and real estate transactions.
A separate focus of Corey’s work is with non-profit entities that serve indigenous, socially-disadvantaged, and under privileged communities. Corey advises non-profit clients on a wide range of subjects including strategic planning, internal governance issues, employment matters, fundraising, programmatic development, and transactional issues.
Prior to joining Drummond Woodsum, Corey spent time at the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He is the former president of the Native American Bar Association of Washington, D.C. He’s also a former Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team member.
In his free time, Corey enjoys spending time with his family, their dog, and two cats. He takes Passamaquoddy language classes, organizes sports/life skills camps for Tribal Nations youth, and volunteers for the Maine Justice Foundation and the Abbe Museum. Corey also serves on the Executive Committee for the Thompson Brothers’ 4 the Future Foundation, which inspires youth by creating community-based opportunities at the intersection of culture and healthy lifestyles.
Courtesy of Sunlight Media Collective. Corey Hinton, Passamquoddy, Sipayik, speaking at the legislative Judiciary Committee's public hearing on LD 2094: "An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act". February 14, 2020.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Carcross/Tagish First Nation
PANEL TITLE: Arts Transforming Our Futures
WHAT IS YOUR PANEL ABOUT?
”I will be speaking about new models for self-determination, that is, institutions by and for Native people. The Abbe Museum is also an exceptional example of this. The organization that I work for, Forge Project, is another example. By sharing these models we hope that we can create different futures, ones which are reparative and non-colonial.”
BIOGRAPHY
Candice Hopkins is a citizen of Carcross/Tagish First Nation and lives in Red Hook, New York. Her writing and curatorial practice explore the intersections of history, contemporary art, and Indigeneity. She is Executive Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, Taghkanic, NY. She is curator of the exhibitions, Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination Since 1969, at the Hessel Museum; Impossible Music, co-curated with Raven Chacon and Stavia Grimani at the Miller ICA, and the touring exhibitions, Soundings; An Exhibition in Five Parts co-curated with Dylan Robinson, and ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᔪᒻᒪᕆᒃ, Double Vision, featuring textiles, prints and drawings by Jessie Oonark, Janet Kigusiuq, and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk. She was the Senior Curator for the inaugural 2019 and 2022 editions of the Toronto Biennial of Art and part of the curatorial team for the Canadian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, featuring the work of the media collective Isuma; documenta 14, Athens and Kassel; and Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Her notable essays include “The Gilded Gaze: Wealth and Economies on the Colonial Frontier,” in the documenta 14 Reader; “Outlawed Social Life,” in South as a State of Mind; and “The Appropriation Debates (or The Gallows of History),” in Saturation: Race, Art, and the Circulation of Value (New Museum/MIT Press, 2020).
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot
MEDIUM: Beadwork
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a tribal citizen of the Penobscot Nation. I learned to bead on Indian Island as a teenager. As an Indigenous woman born on Earth Day, I have a deep connection with nature and an inherent responsibility to do my part to help protect the planet. I sometimes use recycled and upcycled materials in my work which helps to reduce my footprint.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Cherokee Nation
PANEL TITLE: Weaving a Sustainable Environment
BIOGRAPHY
HONOR KEELER, JD
Honor Keeler is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and legal scholar who focuses on Indigenous human rights, sacred lands protection, international repatriation, environmental justice, entrepreneurship, and women’s rights. Keeler is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Practice at Brown University in the Native American and Indigenous Studies initiative.
Keeler currently serves as a Board member of the Return, Reconcile, Renew governance board, an Indigenous research project and database partnership among Indigenous Australians, Maori, Native Americans, and scholars, dedicated to finding and repatriating Indigenous Ancestors and cultural items. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM). Keeler’s co-edited book, The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Repatriation: Return, Reconcile, Renew was released in 2020. Her most recent publication, "Indigenous Bodies Are Not Your Property: Restoring Indigenous Consent Restores Justice" was published in the 2023 book Repatriation, Science, and Identity.
From 2018-2021, Keeler was the Assistant Director/Director of Legal and Programs at Utah Diné Bikéyah, an Indigenous grassroots, nonprofit organization that focused upon cultural and environmental resources protection in the Four Corners area and the protection of the Bears Ears National Monument. From 2018-2022, Keeler served a 4-year term on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Committee, a U.S. federal advisory committee formed under NAGPRA. Prior to 2020, Keeler was an Investigator on several major grants focusing upon Indigenous international repatriation at the Australian National University, holding an honorary position at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies.
Throughout her career, Keeler has worked at several national organizations, including the American Indian Law Center, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the AAIA. She also taught at Wesleyan University as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Repatriation Coordinator where she focused her classes on sacred lands protection and repatriation, Native American youth, and Native American land rights. Keeler’s former Board service includes: Vice President of the Board of Trustees at the Cherokee National Historical Society (encompassing the Cherokee Heritage Center, Cherokee National Archives, and Cherokee National Museum in Cherokee Nation) and the President of Brown University’s Native Americans at Brown Alumni Association. She has testified in front of Congress and the United Nations on sacred lands protection, human rights, international repatriation, looting and trafficking, and the protection of Bears Ears. Keeler is currently a Ph.D. candidate at The Australian National University. She received her J.D. and Indian Law Certificate from the University of New Mexico School of Law, and her A.B. from Brown University.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq, Acadia First Nation
PANEL TITLE: Arts Transforming Our Futures
BIOGRAPHY
Jared Lank (Mi'kmaq) is an interdisciplinary filmmaker from Maine. He holds advanced degrees in anthropology and human geography. His work explores identity and belonging, focusing on the nuanced, intergenerational experience of forced cultural loss, erasure, and assimilation under settler colonialism. His films expose the vicious and indoctrinating colonial underpinnings of society through metaphor, lived experience, and an Indigenous lens.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Tuscarora
BIOGRAPHY
Mother, Singer, Composer, and Teacher - Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies.
Jennifer has been singing since she was a child. When she was seventeen, she joined the critically acclaimed Native women's Trio ULALI. Her voice perfectly wove the high strand of Ulali's renowned harmony with incomparable skill and grace for over twenty years. Together, they created a new sound in Indian Country. Jennifer's sharp wit and stage presence infused Ulali’s shows with strong vocals, humor and camaraderie with the audience.
Jennifer is frequently called upon to guest lecture and conduct vocal workshops at universities, schools, in Native communities and at festivals throughout the United States and Canada. She has worked in film and television and has toured with renowned musicians throughout the world.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation
PANEL TITLE: Recognizing Sovereignty as a Stepping Stone to an Enduring Democracy
BIOGRAPHY
Donna is an elder and former council member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, she held the position of the Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature for over a decade. Her legislative service ended on October 1st, 2008. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affaires to Governor Janet Mills. She hosts her own radio show, Wabanaki Windows at WERU Community Radio in Orland. She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Maine Orono. She received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, in May 2022.
Her professional background is in law enforcement. Donna served as the Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990. She was the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the State of Maine. In 1992, she became the first woman Director of Security at Bowdoin College, a position she held until March 1997. Donna is a Vietnam Veteran. She served in the Women’s Army Corp in Vietnam from November of 1967 to November of 1968. She served during the TET Offensive. Donna authored and sponsored LD 291, “An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools.” Governor Angus King signed the Act into law on June 14th, 2001.
The law is changing the way Maine views its history. Donna conceptualized and advocated for the first “State of the Tribes Address” in Maine History. Tribal Chiefs addressed a Joint Session of the Legislature on March 11, 2002. The event was carried live on Maine Public Television and Radio. In May of 2008 Donna’s book titled “In The Shadow of the Eagle A Tribal Representative in Maine” was published. The book is a journal of her experiences in the Maine State Legislature as a Non-voting Tribal Representative. Donna Co-Authored a documented History of Tribal State relations published by the Maine Permanent Commission titled 'One Nation Under Fraud A Remonstrance: A Historical Reference. A version of this article was published by the Maine Law Review 75.2 issue in 2023.
In March of 2009, Donna donated her legislative and personal papers to the Maine Women Writers Collection at the University of New England where they have been categorized and made available to the public and to scholars for research. On October 1, 2009, the University of New England Women Writers Collection established an annual lecture series in the name of Donna M Loring. The Donna M Loring lecture series is held annually featuring a keynote speaker on Native, Civil Rights, Environmental, or equal justice issues. On September 20th, 2011, Donna was inducted into the University of New England’s prestigious Deborah Morton Society on its fiftieth Anniversary when she joined the ranks of such women as Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, author Mary Sarton, internationally known artist Dahlov Ipcar, federal attorney Paula Silsby, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court Leigh Saufley and former first lady Mary Hermon to name a few. Donna was recently appointed to the Abbe Museum’s Board of Trustees. She was Awarded the ‘Courage is Contagious Award’ by the University of Maine School of Law 2021 Appointed to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees to fill the first Wabanaki Permanent Seat by Governor Janet Mills.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot
MEDIUM: Diverse Arts
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation
PANEL TITLE: Weaving a Sustainable Environment
WHAT IS YOUR PANEL ABOUT?
"The keepers of Indigenous knowledge carry thousands of years of data on things such as medicinal plant properties, biodiversity, migration patterns, climate changes, astronomical events, and quantum physics. They carry the stories of countless epochs of human history, going all the way back to the beginning of human life on Mother Earth. And, they provide insights that help fill the gap between our physical and subjective experiences, helping us understand how our internal consciousness impacts the ways that we view and experience the external world around us." Sherri Mitchell Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset, excerpt from 'All We Can Save; Truth Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.'
BIOGRAPHY
Sherri Mitchell -Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset, is an Indigenous attorney, activist, and author from the Penobscot Nation. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona’s Roger’s College of Law, specializing in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program, and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Sherri is the author of the award-winning book, Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, which has been published in four languages. She is also a contributor to more than a dozen anthologies, including the best seller, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, along with Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States, and Growing Up Native in America.
Sherri is the founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an Indigenous educational organization with three core program areas – Preserving the Indigenous way of life, the cultivation of competent cultural leadership, and the advancement of ecological equity and justice. The Land Peace Foundation has provided training for the 5 largest environmental NGO’s on the planet, helping them develop better policies and procedures for engaging with Indigenous Peoples living on the front lines of climate change. They also curated an eight-part series with the Global Council on Science and the Environment that provided training for thousands of scientists and scientific scholars from more than 40 countries, highlighting Indigenous scholarship and traditional knowledge. Sherri was also a key member of the development team for the ACE Mandate of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement. This framework was adopted by the Biden Administration and is currently being used to provide education, engagement, training, and workforce development for climate action in the United States.
Sherri serves as a Trustee for the American Indian Institute and has been a part of their youth and elders circle for more than thirty years, she sits on both the Global Indigenous Advisory Council and the North American Advisory Council for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and is a board member for the Post Carbon Institute.
She is also the recipient of several human rights awards, including the Mahoney Dunn International Human Rights and Humanitarian Award and the University of Maine Alumni International Human Rights Award, and her portrait is featured in the esteemed portrait series - American’s Who Tell the Truth. Sherri is the convener of the global healing ceremony, Healing the Wounds of Turtle Island, a gathering that has brought more than fifty-thousand people together from six continents, with elders from 40 Indigenous nations, to focus on healing our relationships with one another and with our relatives the natural world. She teaches across the globe on issues of Indigenous rights, Earth rights, and transformational socio-spiritual change.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot
MEDIUM: Basketry
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a traditional Penobscot basket maker. As a young child, I observed my grandmother, Philomene Saulis Nelson, preparing materials for her ash and sweetgrass baskets. I loved the vibrant colors she dyed her ash; her color combinations were stunning! When I was in college I asked her to teach me how to make baskets, but it was not meant to be at that time.
It wasn’t until my late 40s that I had the unique and unexpected opportunity to apprentice with my mentor and cousin, Theresa Secord. As part of my apprenticeship I had the opportunity to use my grandmother's molds and could feel her guiding presence. My inspiration and ancestral designs come from Penobscot-style baskets produced by my grandmother, Philomene, and my cousin, Theresa. I like to weave ash and sweetgrass boxes, sweetgrass flats, and other baskets with braided sweetgrass in the family style. Continuing my family's traditional art form is an honor and privilege. I am also mentoring my daughter and granddaughter so other generations of basket weavers will continue the ancestral tradition. Plus, we are learning Wabanaki language terms associated with traditional basketry.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Passamaquoddy/Hidatsa and Mandan
MEDIUM: Painting/Illustration
BIOGRAPHY
Norma Randi is a Wabanaki artist and homesteader from Maine. She is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and was raised in her Passamaquoddy mother’s ancestral lands at Sipayik, Maine. She has roots from her father’s clan of the Hidatsa and Mandan people of North Dakota. Norma is a painter and digital art creator; she uses acrylic, oils, and watercolors as her mediums.
Norma draws inspiration from her ancestral heritage and life lived with her husband. She has love for the various landscapes and palettes of Maine skies, earth, and waters; experiencing the beautiful Maine environment that her maternal ancestors called home and traversed for 12000 plus years. The focus on her heritage is also a teaching tool for herself to be aware of the history of her ancestors, how their lives were lived prior to colonization and after, their culture, their environments and ecology, and the people within the communities who continue carrying on traditions despite the initial setback of assimilation. It is a form of self healing and expression.
Norma Randi is a graduate of the University of Maine at Machias with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She is a member of the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. Norma has an art show at least once a year. In 2023 she won a People’s Choice Award in June for her Language preservation piece at the Abbe Museum Indian Market weekend. She will be featured at the Eastport Arts Center in June 2024 for a solo show and at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens from mid-July through mid-October.
You can now purchase her small works at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, and the Acadia National Park Stores. You can see her in person at various craft fairs in Maine selling her art and wares.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Kewa Pueblo
MEDIUM: Jewelry
BIOGRAPHY
Santo Domingo Pueblo artist Priscilla Nieto is renowned for her award-winning heishi necklaces. Using traditional methods, painstakingly hand grinding and drilling each individual bead. Timeless one of kind pieces - all hand made jewelry.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Navajo
MEDIUM: Diverse Arts, Jewelry
BIOGRAPHY
JJ worked in IT for 25 years before moving into the art world full-time. Outside of a short stint painting, with some success, in 2010, JJ focused diligently on his musical craft, a true passion. JJ’s life was shaken up, and in 2016, he found himself moving back to the Navajo reservation, searching for a means to make a living. During this time of resetting, chores around the family home required JJ to be resourceful with materials such as wood, metal, and tools. His father, Chester, worked on a rickety table, barely holding up his chainsaws and chain sharpening equipment. JJ set out to find old 2x4’s and some screws and cobbled together a work bench and seat that his dad still uses today. More than a year and various woodworking projects later, his sister Cleo asked if he could make a cradleboard for her coming grandchild. That first cradleboard was the beginning of JJ’s career in the arts. JJ’s philosophy guides all things in his life: This moment is perfect and there’s nothing lacking. With this deep abiding fire, JJ continues to admire the texture and beauty of wood grain and continues to be amazed by the smell of freshly sawn wood. In addition, JJ’s unique stamping and texturing styles make his silverwork stand out, a newer passion in his ever-growing career!
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation
MEDIUM: Basketry - Other
BIOGRAPHY
Butch Phillips, a tribal elder of the Penobscot Nation, grew up on Indian Island. He is a tradition bearer within his community.
Phillips is a birchbark artist known for etching winter bark with traditional Penobscot double curve motifs and designs. He is also recognized for his moose calls (article here), log carriers, and model canoes.
In 2002, Butch assisted in the construction of an 18-foot birchbark canoe that was finished and paddled in shifts during the annual Katahdin Spiritual Run, a 100-mile trek by canoe, bike and foot to Mount Katahdin. Later, Butch went on to build a 14-foot canoe on his own, and an 18-foot canoe with two of his sons. Since then, he has participated in events that showcase birchbark canoes while paddling the Penobscot River.
Butch has been instrumental in the restoration of the Penobscot River, advocating for the removal of dams to allow for the return of migratory fish species such as salmon and sturgeon. The restoration of the river was a collaborative effort by the tribe, seven conservation groups, the local power company, the State of Maine, and the Federal government. Butch is one of twenty-four Penobscot individuals featured in the documentary “The River is Our Relative.” In this film, Butch shares his spiritual connection and celebrates his cultural ties to the Penobscot River.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mi’kmaq Nation
MEDIUM: Diverse Arts
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist deeply connected to my Mi’kmaq heritage, I draw inspiration from the rich cultural tapestry of my ancestors’ resistance and survival, infusing my work with elements of tradition and history. Through the ancient techniques of glass beads, lampwork, and stained glass, I reclaim indigenous space and weave a contemporary narrative that honors the resilience and beauty of Mi’kmaq people in my homeland.
In the fiery torch, I mold molten glass into statements of today’s enduring issues and passions. Each bead and sculpture tell a story of strength and perseverance, reflecting the enduring legacy of my ancestors.
Within the delicacy of stained glass, I draw from the vibrant hues of ancestral objects and the natural world, using the Colonizer’s own medium of religious oppression to tell our story of survival and world views.
In my beadwork I delve into the cultural resistance of my ancestors to create one-of-a-kind statement pieces of intricate form and function. These represent a claiming of modernity and space within fashion.
Through all of my work I explore the themes of identity and belonging, using the interplay of light and color to reclaim and redefine Mi’kmaq narratives in a contemporary context. Each piece is a rebuttal of the prevalent ideas that we are no longer here, reminding viewers of the importance of preserving and honoring indigenous heritage in an ever-changing world.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mashpee Wampanoag
PANEL TITLE: Savoring Native Food Wisdom
BIOGRAPHY
Sherry Pocknett (born 1960) is a Mashpee Wampanoag chef and caterer. She is the owner of the Sly Fox Den Too restaurant in Charlestown, Rhode Island. In 2023, Pocknett received the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast. She is the first Indigenous woman to be honored by the James Beard Foundation.
Pocknett grew up on Cape Cod; she is the daughter of Native American rights advocate and Mashpee Wampanoag Chief Sly Fox, Vernon Pocknett. She grew up cooking with her family who from the early 1970s until 2000, operated and owned The Flume Restaurant in Mashpee on Cape Cod. Her uncle, Chief Flying Eagle, Earl Mills, Sr. was a chef, while her grandmother, Delscena Hendricks, served as master baker and chef. Prior to opening her restaurant, Pocknett worked as a caterer, handling many tribal social events, including the annual powwow, and worked as food and beverage director at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut. Pocketnett has two daughters, Jade and Cheyenne Pocknett-Galvin.
Pocknett opened Sly Fox Den Too in June 2021 in Charlestown. The restaurant specializes in Eastern Woodland Indigenous cuisine and is named after Pocknett's father. The "too" in the name was added due to Pocknett planning to open a flagship location in Preston, Connecticut that will include a living Native American Museum and oyster farm. At Sly Fox Den Too, Pocknett utilizes seasonal, indigenous, and foraged ingredients and Indigenous culinary practices.
In 2022, Sherry Pocknett received an Artist2Artist Fellowship grant from the Art Matters Foundation for Sly Fox Den.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation
PANEL TITLE: Recognizing Sovereignty as a Stepping Stone to an Enduring Democracy
WHAT’S YOUR PANEL ABOUT?
"Our panel will explore how settler-colonial democracies (the USA, the State of Maine), created racialized oppressive frameworks for Wabanaki people and attempted to destroy our democratic institutions, civic cultures, and traditions, and will show how the maintenance of these institutions is the core of our fight for Tribal sovereignty."
BIOGRAPHY
Darren J. Ranco, PhD, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, is a Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Native American Programs, and Faculty Fellow at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine. His research focuses on the ways in which Indigenous Nations resist environmental destruction by using Indigenous science and diplomacies to protect their natural and cultural resources. He has published extensively and teaches classes on Indigenous intellectual property rights, research ethics and methodology, environmental and climate justice, and tribal governance. He is currently a Senior Ford Fellow, working on a project called, “Decolonizing Land Relations in the Dawnland: Landback and Rematriation Across Wabanakik,” where he is researching, engaging, and learning from Indigenous led landback and rematriation movements across North America and applying this research and storywork about landback and rematriation efforts with his Tribal Nation and the other Wabanaki Nations across northern New England and eastern Canada.
TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Penobscot Nation
PANEL TITLE: Savoring Native Food Wisdom
WHAT IS YOUR PANEL ABOUT?
”The story of turtle island, starts and end with our food ways, it’s the literal foundation of our culture.”
BIOGRAPHY
Penobscot Chef Joe Robbins is catalyzing change within and beyond indigenous foodways with a deep-rooted connectedness to the land and water and a vision for the future of contemporary indigenous culture that knows no bounds. In his life and work, Robbins is changing the conversation to put Native American food on the map in ways that transcend its complex history as a source of survival to show that cultural preservation is not locked in the past, but is emerging and evolving in dynamic ways. When he’s not in the kitchen, Robbins is creating a ripple effect with the next generation by collaborating to develop indigenous-based educational programming in the classroom and community to shift the paradigms of the past toward a new vision for the future.
Organized by the Abbe Museum, the Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is a unique multi-day event is an evolution of our popular Abbe Museum Indian Market (AMIM) and Native American Festival that featured invitation-only Native arts markets and performances. The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas includes those elements but will also spotlight conversations by Wabanaki and other Indigenous leaders on some of the biggest questions of our time, including climate, democracy, and food systems.
The Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas is FREE and open to the public.
This event is supported in part by grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and Maine Office of Tourism, along with a partnership from the College of the Atlantic.
Date: July 12-14, 2024
Location: College of the Atlantic in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine
Contact: Dawn Spears, Festival Producer (dawn@abbemuseum.org | 207.288.3519
For event updates, please visit: https://www.dawnlandfestival.org
