Margaret Mary Mitchell Gabriel (November 12, 1908 – July 10, 2004) was a
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...
basket maker from
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. She was awarded a
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...
in 1994.
Early life
Mary Mitchell was born on the
Passamaquoddy reservation near
Princeton, Maine
Princeton is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The town was named after Princeton, Massachusetts. The population was 745 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area o ...
,
the daughter of Joseph Mitchell and Margaret Mell Mitchell.
She and her sisters were raised by their grandparents, and learned Passamaquoddy traditions of making baskets of sweetgrass and ash splints from their mother and grandmother.
Career
Gabriel worked at the Emple Knitting Mill in
Brewer, Maine
Brewer is a city in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. It is part of the Bangor, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after its first settler, Colonel John Brewer. The population was 9,672 at the 2020 census.
Brewer ...
. She moved back to Princeton when she received money from the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement, and made and sold her baskets there.
"Every person who looks at my basket asks, 'How long did it take you to make this?'" she said in 1995. "You could say forever", she answered.
In 1993 she won the Maine Arts Commission's Individual Artist Award, and she was one of the founders of the Maine Indian Basket Makers Alliance. In 1994, she was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, and a Maryann Hartman Award from the
University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...
.
At the Hartman Awards ceremony, she delivered her acceptance speech in
Passamaquoddy
The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...
. The Center for the Study of Lives at the
University of Southern Maine
The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston in the U.S. state of Maine. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universitie ...
made a documentary, "Gabriel Women: Passamaquoddy Basketmakers" (1999), about Mary Gabriel and her daughters Sylvia and Clare.
Personal life and legacy
Mitchell married Simon Anthony Gabriel. She had seven children.
She died in 2004, aged 95 years, at her home in
Indian Township, Maine
Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Motahkomikuk'') is one of two Indian reservations of the federally recognized Passamaquoddy tribe in Washington County, Maine, United States. The population was 760 at the 202 ...
.
Her baskets are in the collections of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, the
Abbe Museum
The Abbe Museum is a museum with two locations in Bar Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. The museum is dedicated to exploring the history and culture of Maine's Native people, the Wabanaki. It has one location at 26 Mount Desert Street in th ...
, the
Hudson Museum
The Hudson Museum is an anthropology museum that is operated by the University of Maine and is located in the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, Maine. The museum's collections include Maine Native American baskets and basket-making tools, Pr ...
, and the
Bangor International Airport
Bangor International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport on the west side of the city of Bangor, in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. Owned and operated by the City of Bangor, the airport has a single runway measuring . F ...
.
Her daughter Deborah Gabriel Brooks's Sweetgrass Basketry continues producing baskets based on Gabriel's teachings.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel, Mary Mitchell
1908 births
2004 deaths
People from Washington County, Maine
Passamaquoddy people
Native American women artists
Native American basket weavers
American weavers
Artists from Maine
20th-century American women artists
American women basket weavers
American basket weavers