{"id":24520,"date":"2025-10-09T10:02:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/hudsonmuseum\/?p=24520"},"modified":"2025-10-09T11:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T15:48:07","slug":"erica-nelson-menard-artist-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/hudsonmuseum\/2025\/10\/09\/erica-nelson-menard-artist-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Erica Nelson Menard (Artist Profile)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erica Nelson Menard<\/strong> is a Penobscot brown ash and sweetgrass basket maker. She was introduced to the tradition by her grandmother, Philomene Saulis Nelson.\u00a0 During visits to Philomene\u2019s home Erica watched her prepare materials on Indian Island.\u00a0 She loved watching Philomene dye splints in bright blues, reds, browns, yellows, and purples and seeing her grandmother combining them into baskets to create stunning color combinations. It wasn\u2019t until Erica was in her late 40s that she took up the tradition of basketmaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An apprenticeship with her mentor and cousin, Theresa Secord gave Erica an opportunity to reconnect with basketmaking.  Using her grandmother’s molds, she creates ancestral designs based on the Penobscot-style baskets produced by her grandmother, Philomene and her cousin, Theresa.  Erica\u2019s baskets include ash and sweetgrass boxes, sweetgrass flats, and other baskets with braided sweetgrass in the Nelson family style. For Erica, each basket she creates connects her with her grandmother and this traditional art form.   She is passing the tradition on to her daughter and granddaughter, who will also attend the Wabanaki Winter Market at the Hudson Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erica\u2019s work has been showcased in various exhibitions, including the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine.  Erica has done art  basket demonstrations for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallery – Erica Nelson Menard, Penobscot Basketmaker<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n