Sandra Peterson, Artist (Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe)

Sandra Peterson.  Photo used by permission

Photo used by permission

      “I’ve been making baskets for more than twenty years,” Sandra Peterson said.  “During the week I work as a billing clerk for Tribal Water Utilities and I make baskets on weekends and whenever I have spare time.” 

    Peterson and her husband David are master basket makers of traditional Ojibwe baskets or wiigwaasii  makak.   They make makuks, rice fanning baskets, and storage containers using traditional materials.  Peterson learned basket making from Jerry Maulson, an elder in the Lac du Flambeau community where she grew up.   Now Peterson and her husband David work together to keep alive   The knowledge is being passed on to their nephew, Jason Peterson, who also accompanies Sandra and David to gather the birch bark that is best for etching, winter bark. 

Harvesting birch bark.  Photo used by permission

     Winter bark is gathered in April and May.  It should be peeled off the birch tree when the weather is warmer, about the time when the maple sap is running most freely.  Then, it comes off easily.    At that time of year, birch bark has a thin layer of film that makes it ideal for etching. Summer bark is taken in June and July.   It has no film, but is easier to get off. 

     The bark is sewn together with strips of basswood bark known as wii goob.  A basswood tree about 8 inches in diameter is stripped of its bark and cut down.  The strips are soaked in water to ferment for three to four weeks, then coiled, and look like raffia.  Rims for the baskets are made from splints of black ash and cedar.  “I make baskets with either the white or the brown side of the bark facing out.  I follow the way the bark wants to turn,” she says.  

    Traditionally, birch bark baskets were made for practical purposes, for cooking, storing and consuming food.   They were of different sizes, some large, some small.  Birch bark traditionally was used for many purposes, for hunting and fishing gear, canoes, wigwams, and even musical instruments

and decorative fans.

    

Peterson's etched baskets.  Photo used by permission

    Sandra and David’s baskets often feature etchings made with a tiny spoon-like tool.   One layer of bark is scraped away, revealing a different shade of bark beneath.  Peterson’s designs come from a variety of sources.  A design of a deer or trees may be inspired by life or from a photo. “I can be inspired by a design on the internet.  Or I might also take a traditional Ojibwe beading design.  I cut around the design with my etching tool,” she says.  Etching a single basket may take anywhere from a week to months to complete. 

      The Petersons’ baskets are on display at the George Brown Museum, the Woodland Center in Lac du Flambeau and the Madeline Island Museum, where the Petersons have been artists-in-residence in conjunction with the exhibit “Art Traditions of the Anishinaabeg”.  Sandra Peterson has been a featured artist at the Burpee Museum in Rockford, Illinois and at the “Masters of Tradition” exhibit at the Dane County airport in Madison.  Peterson gives a seminar on basket making at Oneida every summer, and her baskets are in private collections in Germany and France.  She is also a moccasin maker and beader.  Her soft-soled Ojibwe moccasins beaded in red-and-white stripes outlined in blue and white took first place at the 2012 Woodland Indian Art Show juried competition.

Photo used by permission

 Sandra Peterson's baskets are available at  Woodland Indian Art Center in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin or directly from Birchbark Baskets by Sandra and David Peterson