Page 56 - CA 2019 Final(3)

UPDATE

Jeremy Frey, Passamaquoddy basketmaker, wins

again at Santa Fe

Indian Market

This past year in August, Jeremy Frey won
Best of Basketry at the Santa Fe Indian Market
2018.

Other awards Jeremy has received in the Jeremy Frey after winning Best of
past for his baskets are Best of Show at Santa Basketry at Santa Fe, NM, in 2018.
Fe in 2011, Best of Show at the Heard Indian Photo by SFIM, courtesy of Jeremy
Market in 2011, and then again in 2015. Frey.
He is a fellow of many different art fellowships including United States Artists.
His work can be found in many prominent museum collections around the country, in-
cluding the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor. Congratulations Jeremy on your awards for
the wonderful pieces of fine art you create!

The winning basket, made by Jeremy Frey, at For commissions or more information on Jeremy Frey baskets, check out his website
Santa Fe, NM, 2018 for Best in Basketry. at jeremyfreybaskets.com. His email is freybasketry@gmail.com.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Frey.

continued from previous page
Award-winning Passamaquoddy basketmaker Gabriel Frey
Gabriel, who also works part time as a massage therapist, enjoys making both
traditional work baskets and the fancy baskets sought by tourists. He said the fancy
baskets represent the “upward mobility of the culture.”
He prefers not to see baskets used only for decoration but rather to see them
serve a function. “I like the idea of baskets being used,” he said. To suit both his
philosophy and customer demand, he often takes a traditional shape, such as a pack
basket, and adapts it. Adding a leather liner and decorative lid – created with the aid
of a jewelry maker – turns the traditional shape into one with a modern use as a purse.
Gabriel said he was reluctant to begin adding color to his baskets, but his wife,
Suzanne, pushed him to try it and it worked out well.
“Every time I put the color in that she suggests, it sells instantaneously,” he said.
Being Native American and a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe means that
basketry runs in the family. “I grew up with it but I really didn’t take it seriously un-
til my grandfather got sick,” he said.
At that time, which was about 20 years ago, he told his grandfather he wanted them
to make baskets together. His grandfather was skeptical but Gabriel kept his word.
Although his grandfather was no longer making baskets, he gave Gabriel instruc-
tion and encouragement. Gabriel started taking his work to shows and sold out every
time. Now, he does the four shows a year sponsored by the Maine Indian Basket-
makers Alliance.
Gabriel also shows his work at the Santa Fe Indian Market (SFIM) in New Mexico,
which features Native American work of all kinds, not just baskets. In 2016 he was
awarded an Honorable Mention in Basketry; in 2017 he won First Place in Basketry
(at SFIM). In 2019 he is a United States Artist Fellow in Traditional Arts, and also in
2019 he is one of five recipients of the 2019 Maine Craft Apprenticeship Grant, as a
Member Craftsmen. Congratulations on your awards, Gabriel, and the beautiful pieces
of artwork you create! Gabriel creates a small pack basket in his
workshop. Photo by Johanna S. Billings.
For more information on Gabriel’s baskets, contact him at (207) 991-8479 or email Inset photo is of a finished backpack purse,
gabriel.frey@yahoo.com . He can also be found on Instagram @gabrielfreybaskets. and is courtesy of Gabriel Frey.
Gabriel Frey baskets can be seen in the collections of Native American arts at the
Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.
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