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Artist Database
LEAF, Mary
- Born
- Akwesasne Indian Reserve, Ontario, 1925
- Died
- , 2004
- Biography synopsis
- First Nations artist Mary Leaf was born in 1925 on the Akwesasne Indian Reserve in Ontario. A member of the Mohawk tribe, Leaf was renowned for her basket making abilities, which she learned from her mother, Josephine Thompson. As a young child, Leaf was taught traditional splintwork and lacrosse stick weaving techniques, which she used to create colourful strawberry baskets. Some of Leaf's works can be found in the North American Indian Traveling College in Ontario and the Newark Museum in New Jersey.
- Media used
- Basket making
- File & Archive locations
- Thunder Bay Art Gallery, ON - Resource Centre
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Jemison, G. Peter. "Haudenosaunee: Living Treasures." Heritage 15.4 (Sept. 1999): 4-11
- Little, Molly. "Mary Leaf, Mohawk Basketmaker." Artifacts 13.3 (Summer 1985): 14
- Porter, Frank W., ed. The Art of Native American Basketry: A Living Legacy New York: Greenwood Press, 1990
- Pulleyn, Rob. The Basketmaker's Art: Contemporary Baskets and Their Makers Asheville, N.C: Lark Books, 1992
- Reno, Dawn E. Contemporary Native American Artists Brooklyn, New York: Alliance Publishing, 1995
