"Artist takes ancient tradition of basket weaving in new directions"—PBS News
Read More"Beyond rich allusions to the past, Jeremy Frey and his generation of basket-makers are also creating objects that will leave your eyes spinning."—The Art Fuse
Read More"Having already received many of the highest honors reserved for Native American artists including Best of Show at both the Heard Fair and Santa Fe Indian Market, Frey was adamant that the exhibition position his work as contemporary art. “I didn’t want to do a basket show,” he stated at the show’s opening. As he told Atlas Obscura, “I’ve spent my whole career trying to redefine what ash can be.” [1] Woven, therefore, represents basket weaving in an expanded sense. Rather than a retrospective display of finished works, it frames Frey’s longstanding weaving practice as a jumping-off point for explorations of new techniques and media."
Read MoreNow, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum has awarded Frey, an enrolled member of the Passamaquoddy tribe, the 25th annual Rappaport Prize, a $50,000 cash award to honor a contemporary artist working in New England.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Frey, 45, reached by phone in rural Maine. “I still haven’t processed it fully.”
Read MoreTaking up an ancient practice, Jeremy Frey carries it into the here and now.
Read More“His legacy is a new energy — a boldly contemporary take on an ancient woodland craft. ‘I’ve worked for more than 20 years reinventing this traditional art form,’ Frey says.”
Read MoreFrey wants to have it all: to be a contemporary traditionalist, an artist-artisan, an internationalist exponent of his own tribe. It hasn’t been easy. More than two decades of unremitting effort, willpower and imagination have been necessary to get him this far.
Read MoreWhile at the museum, you can see paintings by Winslow Homer and N.C. Wyeth, but don’t miss the work of artists who have broadened and deepened the legacy of Maine art in recent decades, including paintings by Reggie Burrows Hodges and Daniel Minter, and sculpture by Lauren Fensterstock.
Read More“Passamaquoddy artist Jeremy Frey has become one of the most awarded and collected Indigenous basket weavers in the country for his contemporary mastery of the Wabanaki weaving tradition.”
Read More“Wabanaki people originally wove baskets for functional purposes, but, over time, basketmaking has evolved into more of an art form. Today, some have taken the art of basketmaking to new levels--such as the renowned Passamaquoddy artist Jeremy Frey.”
Read MoreFrey, a celebrated seventh-generation Indigenous basketmaker, uses the traditional designs of the Wabanaki tribal confederation of New England and the Canadian Maritimes as takeoff points for bold departures.
Read MoreFrey’s baskets, frankly, astonish.
Read More"...at last, there is a book available for the masses that celebrates [Frey's] impressive work."
Read More“The exhibition is a dazzling showcase of his ability to take unconventional materials…and create objects of delicate, rhythmic delight.”
Read MoreThe baskets of Jeremy Frey from the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine have caught the attention of the art world.
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