Once a Tree: Continuity, Creativity, and Connection” at the Iroquois Museum

By Vic DiSanto, Museum Associate, Iroquois Museum and Curator Collette Lemon

HOWES CAVE — Trees hold an important place in Haudenosaunee literature and folklore. There are many legends and stories about trees that have been passed down from elders to youngsters through oral tradition for generations.

One story says that the Creator ordered the trees never to fall asleep during the winter because their leaves would be needed to protect the Earth, using them to provide shelter for the animals and insects against the wind, rain and snow. Maple noticed bears searching for caves where they would hibernate during the winter and wondered what sleep felt like. Maple relaxed and nodded out. Soon other trees with broad leaves followed Maple’s example and cut some Z’s.

Conifers with their needlelike leaves refused to be tempted by sleep and kept up their watch over Earth.

The Creator was disappointed that Maple and the other broad-leaved trees failed to fulfill their duties and decided that the trees that went to sleep would lose their precious leaves during the winter while those trees that stayed awake would remain cloaked in green and would be called “Evergreens.” And so it is to this day.

The wood harvested from trees has a more pragmatic role in the daily lives of the Haudenosaunee, providing raw materials that are used in countess different ways.

In keeping with Haudenosaunee teachings, the taking of the life of a plant or animal carries with it a reciprocal responsibility. This accountability includes an offering of thanksgiving and an obligation to construct something that is useful; of the best craftsmanship; and/or of exceptional beauty.

Not only are trees revered for their creative possibilities, but as symbols of foundational Haudenosaunee concepts. Trees are greeted and thanked for their gifts of food, shelter, and medicines.

A temporary exhibit at the Iroquois Museum this season, titled “Once a Tree: Continuity, Creativity, and Connection,” will explore the ways that wood has been cured, sawed, planed, shaped, and sanded into finished products. A variety of artifacts, including furniture, snowshoes, baskets, sleds, lacrosse sticks, paddles, and snow snakes, made by Haudenosaunee carpenters, artists, and woodworkers will be on display until November 30 at the Iroquois Museum on Caverns Road in Howes Cave.

“Once a Tree” is a tribute to the variety and versatility of these stalwart members of the natural world. It is equally an acknowledgment of the members of a generation past whose artistry conveys a level of workmanship rarely found today.

The pride of craftsmanship Haudenosaunee woodworkers possess is evident in the attention to detail applied to their products. Preston Jacobs said of a lacrosse stick made by Alfred Jacques, Onondaga, “When I held it, I was amazed. Perfect balance, the weaving was a perfect straight gut wall. Continuous grain from the top bend all the way to the end of the shaft. All sap wood, not the hint of heartwood. It didn’t have the feel of a mass-produced stick. It was a well-crafted work of art.”

Masters in the Haudenosaunee community would pass down their knowledge and teach apprentices their skills in practical on-the-job training. Sheila Ransom said of basket-weaving: “It takes a long time to learn. The first two weeks you spent cleaning that splint. That’s the hardest part of doing the basket. So, I was like, ‘Damn, I’m getting blisters.’ You know, I haven’t even made a basket. I want to quit, and that’s where people quit, too, those first two weeks.”

Despite the skill and time needed to weave baskets made of wood, they initially did not sell for much. Ransom stated “I have this little blue book from the Mohawk Trading Company. The prices are disgusting. Like, you could buy a dozen picnic baskets for $18.00 you know.” Merchants would not pay in cash for the baskets but instead would issue vouchers that could be exchanged for food and/or other goods in their stores.

This bleak situation for Haudenosaunee Basketmakers eventually changed. Mae Bigtree once vowed never to make baskets. Having witnessed the hardship and unfair compensation associated with basketmaking, she wanted no part of it. By the time Mae reached her fifties, however, the market changed, and baskets demanded prices that placed them securely in the price range of fine art.

Recognition was also awarded to other Haudenosaunee handcrafted items. Artisans today derive personal and cultural satisfaction from their work and are represented in major museums and galleries.

Three Haudenosaunee woodworkers - Terry Christjohn III, Oneida, Preston Jacobs, Mohawk, and Sheila Ransom, Mohawk - acted as curatorial consultants for “Once a Tree.” The exhibit will showcase the work of over 42 artists and over 100 objects from the collection of the Iroquois Museum. Haudenosaunee material culture will be reflected through the prism of the finished products completed by artisans from the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca nations.