Jeremy Frey: Woven @ Cantor Arts Center

The Cantor is honored to be the final—and only west coast—venue for this acclaimed exhibition organized by the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. Seventh-generation basket weaver Jeremy Frey (b. 1978) often remarks that the exhibition was “thousands of years in the making.” Wabanaki baskets have existed for more than thirteen thousand years in what is today known as Maine. The tradition was under threat when Frey, who is Passamaquoddy (one of four federally recognized Wabanaki tribes), began making baskets out of ash and sweetgrass in the early 2000s, helping to revitalize the art form.

Frey learned to weave from his mother Frances “Gal” Frey, an accomplished artist, and from important workshops offered by the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance to facilitate an intergenerational transfer of this knowledge. He began to attract national recognition for fine weave baskets that involve whittling down ash to nearly thread-like widths and for baskets in the shapes of sea urchins. Known for making his own tools, Frey also harvests his materials—from identifying promising ash trees in the woods to chop down, to pounding logs with the blunt end of an axe to loosen the growth rings that form the strands of each basket.

Jeremy Frey: Woven traces the artist’s development from the early 2000s to the present day, demonstrating the extent to which he continues to expand the possibilities of this woven art form. More than 30 baskets come together in a single gallery to showcase Frey’s vibrant color palette, distinctive patterns, and tremendous technical skill and ingenuity. Braiding natural growth cycles with his own ancestral history, Frey continues to add new letters to an ancient language, helping to ensure its future.

Jeremy Frey: Woven is organized by the Portland Museum of Art, Maine.