Little "Butter & Sugar" Corn Basket - Pam Outdusis Cunningham: Penobscot

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Seller: Top-Rated Seller barnybars ✉️ (3,137) 100%, Location: Sedgwick, Maine, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 375012279726 Little "Butter & Sugar" Corn Basket - Pam Outdusis Cunningham: Penobscot.

Pam Cunningham's Butter & Sugar corn baskets look "sweet enough to eat".  This little butter and sugar corn basket is  by Pam Cunningham, master Penobscot basketmaker. Pam makes at least 5 different varieties.  - Her butter and sugar corn resembles a customer favorite at local farmer's markets and farm stands...  It has yellow and natural color ash curlicue kernels on the basket "ear"-  

 There are pulled back natural ash color "husks" atop the basket lid. In this basket Pam adds a bit of color into the husk, inserting some narrow ash splints of yellow at the very top along with the natural splints.  

Each of Pam's corn baskets differ in the color and placement of the individual kernel/curls .  This ear of corn/basket bottom is covered with 96 small round "curlicue" curls. (The curls get smaller at the bottom of the basket) The ear of corn is 2.5" to it's rim, the lid/husk is 4.5" long - making total length 7". The middle of the "ear" is 1 1/4" in diameter, the curls add a bit to it's girth. 1.25" diameter at lid - slightly tapered to bottom of basket which is .75" diameter. On the inner rim of the husks (the part that fits into the basket/ear bottom Pam has signed "Pam C" , added the date (2023)  and put her maker's mark, a sweet fern transforming into a turtle.  Pam is of the Penobscot turtle clan.   Be sure to view all photos in the slideshow above to see the various colors and placement of "kernels".

This small size of "basketry corn" is about the size of some varieties grown by some Native American tribes for popping corn and for grinding into cornmeal. 

Made of brown ash, the traditional material of Maine and Eastern Canadian basketmakers, this has plain tidal sweetgrass wrapping the rim of the basket and lid - and the braid of sweetgrass tying the ends of the husk.

Second to last photo is of Pam dancing the traditional "shawl dance" in not so traditional shorts at the 2019 Penobscot Nation Community Day Festival. (photo is also a snapshot of Pam's personality - very traditional in many ways - totally modern in others)   Last photo is a pic of Pam's great-grandmother, ssipsis, selling her baskets about 1920.  To make some of her basket forms Pam uses some of ssipsis's basket making tools - gauges, crooked knives and wooden molds.    Be sure to view some of Pam's other baskets in this ebay store.

  • Condition: New
  • Original or Reproduction: original
  • Region or Culture: Northeast
  • Product Type: baskets
  • Artisan: Pam Cunningham
  • Tribal Affiliation: Penobscot
  • Exact Type: ash Splint Basket w/sweetgrass
  • Handmade: Yes
  • Modified Item: No
  • Culture: Native American: US
  • Native American Age: Current

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  •  Popularity - 5 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 156 days for sale on eBay. Super high amount watching. 0 sold, 1 available.
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  •  Seller - 3,137+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Top-Rated Plus! Top-Rated Seller, 30-day return policy, ships in 1 business day with tracking.

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