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Traditional Arts

Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Traditional Arts Fellowship Sustaining Traditional Arts in the Community Frequently Asked Questions

Traditional arts emanate from, and resonate within, the community from which they arise. Traditional arts are rarely learned in the pages of a textbook. They are passed on as one generation or one member of the community watches or listens to another, absorbing an aesthetic that threads its way through decades and centuries. When that thread is broken we often hear the refrain, "Somebody used to know how to do that." It is the knowledge and experience of not just one canoe builder, for instance, but a succession of builders who have passed traditional building techniques from one to another in a chain influenced by culture, experiences and place.

	Pumpkin basket created by Passamaquoddy basketmaker Clara Keezer.

Among the Wabanaki, centuries of tradition have gone into the tribe's current-day basketmaking tradition. Wabanaki basketmakers produce baskets of such beauty that one marvels at their symmetry, their texture and their craftsmanship. Basketmakers work their materials with patient and nimble fingers, using patterns passed down and adding their own touches. Two Passamaquoddy basketmakers, Mary Gabriel and Clara Keezer have been honored with National Heritage Awards.

	Boatbuilder Ralph Stanley in his shop at Clark's Point. Stanley was awarded a National Heritage Award in 1999.

Maritime traditions are as much a part of Maine as its rugged coastline. Along the coast in Knox County, an oversized pair of knitting needles might seem disproportionate, until one understands they are used to knit trap heads for lobster traps. Also in Knox, Hancock and Washington counties, boatbuilders turn a keen eye to the lines of boats under construction, considering both aesthetics and function. How much "rise" is enough? Will the boat's width-to-length ratio make it faster or slower? Will it roll and pitch too much? At Clarks’ Point, in Hancock County, Ralph Stanley has spent a lifetime crafting Liberty Sloops, lobster boats and pleasure craft. His work won him a National Heritage Award in 1999.

	Sap is collected from maple trees each spring.

In the "sugarbush," each spring, maple sugar producers gather the sap from maple trees and boil it down to a sweet maple syrup. While some producers have adopted modern methods, using long lines of tubing, others continue the traditional methods, using pails hanging from the taps to gather the sap before it is boiled. Hour after hour, the sap is boiled to evaporate the moisture, rising through the roof of the sugar house.

	Traditional artist Bertha Voisine braiding a rug.

Up north, Acadian culture lines both banks of the St. John River. There, the descendents of Acadians, pushed from their lands in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, maintain traditions brought to North America by French settlers centuries ago. On the edge of Ft. Kent, in a small white house, Bertha Voisine pulls seemingly random strips of wool from a box and begins braiding them into rugs with an uncanny sense of color. It is a skill she learned from her mother, in a time when nothing was wasted. "Do it right," she tells her apprentices, "or not at all." The St. John River divides two nations, the United States and Canada but not the cultural ties between families. Among those families, notebooks of old French songs, or complaints, have been kept and passed from one generation to another on both sides of the border.

	Quebecois fiddler Simon St. Pierre, of Smyrna, was awarded the National Heritage award in 1983.		Quebecois accordion player Normand Gagnon (L) joins neighbor LeeRoy LeBlanc for some music in the home; A favorite venue for Franco music.

So too have the fiddle tunes and button-box tunes. Streams of Quebecois, Acadian and Irish immigrants lent their music to Maine's soundscape. It is a soundtrack that, for fiddler Don Roy of Gorham, accompanied weekend family gatherings in Winslow. "Music," says Roy, "is a reason to get together and feel good about life." The music also reminds us that sometimes life was hard, when one listens to the words of the French complaints that tell of young men embarking on long voyages to serve in the Napoleonic Wars and songs from the logging camps that speak of loneliness and tragic accidents.

	Oscar Mokeme performs a traditional Igbo masquerade ceremony.

Just as Acadian, Quebecois, Scandinavian, Irish and other European immigrants brought their traditions to Maine, more recent immigrants bring new traditions as well. Somali immigrants in Lewiston bring a tradition of oral poetry, as well as music and textile arts. Other African cultures bring new dance and storytelling traditions. From Asia, Cambodian immigrants bring a contemplative musical tradition, as well as a stylized dance tradition. In Portland, Pirun Sen has spent the last 20 years teaching Cambodian music to younger musicians. Recent Latino immigrants bring striking visual arts, music and dance.

Maine's traditional cultures are many and varied. Individually, the colors may seem disparate but like one of Berthe's braided rugs, together the colors come alive and dance before us. Traditional arts are the living history of the arts and culture in Maine communities.

For more information or to to discuss traditional arts in Maine, please contact Kathleen Mundell, traditional arts specialist, 207/236-6741or mainetraditionalarts@gmail.com.