"Loon Looking @ you" LRG oval quill/coil sweetgrass basket: Paul St John-Mohawk

Description

This is an eye level LOON looking at you.... as if you were in a kayak and the loon swam along side - near eye level with you.  Loon with red eye and cattails is atop the lid on this great basket by Paul St John, Mohawk. The loon is one of Maine's most beloved and iconic birds. Loon baskets such as this and some smaller are among the most beloved of Paul St John's works.  FIRST loon by Paul with this "head on" perspective. (I have had near 20 loon baskets by Paul - all with loon from a side perspective)  This loon is swimming in deep blue water - with 2 cattails to it's right (your left).   This basket is a larger size than Paul's regular oval basket - It is 7.5" long  - more on it's dimensions below.
The loon's call is heard in the Great North woods on ponds and along Maine's rocky shores.
If you have been lucky enough to encounter a loon while kayaking, canoeing or swimming then you know these are quite large birds, about 3' long. And under these circumstances you may have encountered a loon observing you eye to eye - as is this particular loon on this basket. Loons seem to be drawn to human activity.  I have noticed they appear to be even more curious about young children's voices -  my grandson recently was swimming in a Maine lake and 13 loons joined him!  Very close, quite magical.  Loons flock (or raft as it is called) together in early fall ... and you sometimes see many loons at once then - perhaps preparing for migration.
This loon is made of black dyed and natural white porcupine quills with a  red dyed eye. On a live loon the red eye is quite a startling feature!  This loon swims on blue dyed quill "water" with brown and yellow/green dyed cattails in back of the loon.  This is traditional quill on birch bark work.
This basket
has birch bark at center of lid and used as the bottom -  then co
iled tidal sweetgrass.  It is 7.5" long, 5.5" across and about 2.5" high.  The birch bark medallion at lid's center is 6" long and 4.25" wide.  There is a border of natural white porcupine quills around the outer edge of the birch bark medallion - between the coiled sweetgrass and the medallion.
The loon is of black dyed quills and natural white quills.  It's red eye, the green cattail leaves and brown cattails are all of dyed quill.  It swims atop blue dyed quill water...
Paul St. John now lives in Maine.  He is an enrolled Mohawk tribal member.   He grew up on the Mohawk lands in New York, his father's homeland.  His mother is Passamaquoddy/MicMac/Maliseet - When I saw his work I knew immediately I needed to offer his great baskets.  While quill work and coiled sweetgrass baskets are  historically Maine Indian traditional crafts, currently no one here but Paul St. John is actively practicing this craft.  -  Passamaquoddy basket makers, Jeremy Frey and Otter, both have used some quill work on their baskets...  but quill work on coiled sweetgrass baskets are Paul St John's specialty.
Paul is shown in slideshow above with 2 of his works - one of them is a coiled sweetgrass basket with a side facing cardinal.   He not only does sweetgrass coil baskets and porcupine quill work on birch bark -- but also amazing dolls, Iroquois beadwork, MicMac beadwork,  great moccasins, knife sheaths, medicine bags and so much more!  He is truly a man of many (many many) talents!
Watch this store for more of his pieces.  Can't wait to see what he is going to create next.