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Growing up in Glens Falls on the west side, Yvonne
remembers waking up many mornings to a loud thumping sound: “My
grandfather, Ernest Phillips, would get up very early and go outside and
‘pound timber’. This is where you take an ash log and hit it over and
over with the blunt end of an ax. This loosens up the fiber so you
can take strips off.” It also woke up her household. “My
grandfather and grandmother (Peggy Phillips) lived next to us and they
made baskets all day, everyday. My father helped out a lot too”,
remembers Yvonne. “All us little kids helped with the weaving”.
Yvonne’s family, Abenaki Indians originally from the
U.S./Canadian border area have been making baskets for generations.
Most of Yvonne’s family is in Vermont, and she is a registered member of
the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe in Swanton, Vt. Yvonne is one of a
handful of Indians in the Northeast still making ash baskets the
traditional way. She takes Adirondack white ash logs and strips
the bark from them with a two handed draw knife. The logs are then
soaked in an 8 foot tub for months. She then places them on a
platform and pounds the logs with a sledgehammer. Then, with a
hammer and chisel, she pulls strips from the softened layer; the next
layer is pounded and more strips pulled; the strips are cleaned and
“halved” with a knife; and then soaked. The baskets are then started.
The weaving process requires partial steps and repeated soakings to get
a tight and strong basket.
Yvonne makes dozens of different baskets:
Adirondack pack baskets, egg baskets, Easter baskets, flower baskets,
arrow quivers, tip up baskets, silverware baskets, wine baskets and
others. She also makes custom baskets to customer specifications.
She has given demonstrations to numerous groups including local schools,
civic organizations, libraries and historical associations/events.
She was featured on the Channel 13 show “Back Roads” in 2004. In
addition to her studio/shop, Yvonne’s baskets are available at various
art or antique dealers in the area. Her customers include
collectors from as far away as Japan!
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Her studio/shop is in an old barn on her farm (the
Winchell Creek Beefalo Farm) located in east Fort Ann and is open to
the public from 10 to 4 on Saturday and Sundays. Directions:
From the traffic light in Fort Ann (intersection of Route 4 and Route
149), go east, down the slight hill and onto the canal bridge.
This is Clay Hill Road. Go about 1 mile to end and make right onto
Dewey's Bridge Rd. Go about 1 mile and make first right onto Brayton Rd. Go about 1/2 mile and make first right onto East
Starbuck Lane. Go to red barn at end of road. |
