Please note, this website is only for the purpose of retail basket sales; baskets woven by myself and my son, Caleb Hoffman. I no longer give school presentations or teach basketry, so I cannot field those inquiries. Thank you so much for understanding!
Theresa Secord (b.1958) is a traditional Penobscot basket maker and the founding director of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA). During her 21 years of leadership, MIBA was credited with helping to save the endangered art of ash and sweet grass basketry by: lowering the average age of basket makers from 63 to 40; and increasing numbers of weavers from 55 to more than 150; in the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes. Among several honors for this work and for her artistic excellence, she received a lifetime acheivement award, the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. In 2009, she was honored with the First Peoples Fund's Community Spirit Award and in 2003, the Prize for Creativity in Rural Life presented by the Women’s World Summit Foundation, at the UN in Geneva Switzerland; for helping basket makers rise out of poverty.
Theresa learned to weave in a traditional setting on Indian Island Maine in 1988 from an elder in the community, Madeline Tomer Shay. She weaves traditional Wabanaki baskets using her great-grandmother's wooden forms and tools that have been handed down to her, from the late 1800's. She has taught many to weave ash and sweet grass baskets and is recently teaching her own son Caleb as an apprentice, to ensure continuation within her family.
Theresa’s work resides in museums and private collections across the nation and she’s won prizes for her art in national, juried art shows.
Caleb Hoffman (b. 1991) has been making baskets since he was 8 yrs old. He first learned how to weave from his mother Theresa Secord. He attended many Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) community basketry workshops and festivals, markets and other events over 20 yrs, and had access to a number of Wabanaki artists and culture bearers. In 2023, he began an apprenticeship with Jeremy Frey, the renowned Passamaquoddy artist. In addition to learning to weave his own baskets, Caleb is a studio helper; preparing weaving materials; by pounding the ash log, splitting, scraping and gauging wood. In August 2024, Caleb won the Best of Basketry prize in the storied Santa Fe Indian Market for his basket, "Embers", pictured above, inspired by his teacher, Jeremy Frey.
To read a recent interview with Caleb, please copy and paste this link in your browser: https://www.pressherald.com/2024/09/30/meet-caleb-hoffman-a-rising-star-in-the-world-of-wabanaki-basketry/