Mary Leaf

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| name = Mary Leaf

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| birth_date = 1925

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| death_date = {{Death year and age|2004|1925}}

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| nationality = Akwesasronon

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| known_for = Basketry

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Mary Leaf (1925–2004) was an Akwesasronon basket maker, who lived on the border between Canada and the United States. Leaf specialized in basket making, having learned customary basketry techniques from her mother. Her work can be found in the collections of the Newark Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian.

Biography

Leaf was born in 1925 on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation that lies on the border between Canada and the United States. Her mother, Josephine Thompson, taught her brown ash basketry weaving and lacrosse stick lacing techniques at a young age.{{Cite web |title=Artist Database: Leaf, Mary |url=http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=5489 |access-date=March 8, 2018 |website=Canadian Women Artists History Initiative |language=en}} Leaf created baskets that were often primarily aesthetic, including small colourful "fancy" baskets in the shape of strawberries.{{Cite web |title=Forms of Exchange: Miniature strawberry fancy basket; red and green dyed black ash splints and sweetgrass, 1996 |url=http://facultysites.vassar.edu/kalucic/formsofexchange/information.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108233634/http://facultysites.vassar.edu/kalucic/formsofexchange/information.html |archive-date=8 November 2018 |access-date=8 March 2018 |website=Vassar University (Faculty Site)}} Other women known for this curl and twist technique of basket making are Florence Benedict, Mary Adams, and Katie Sickles.{{Cite web|last=Lemmon|first=Collette|date=April 1, 2018|title=Iroquois Revival: In the Past Decade, Iroquois Basketry Has Experienced a Resurgence|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/native-american-art/20180401/281556586367868|access-date=March 31, 2021|website=PressReader}} Although utilitarian basket-making became less common after the 1930s—as the Great Depression ended and Mohawk people began finding more non-agricultural jobs—Leaf became known as a Mohawk basket maker and influenced the resurgence of basket-making in the Northeastern Woodlands in the late 20th century.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwOzsVo-FcoC&q=%22mary+leaf%22+&pg=PA54|title=The Art of Native American Basketry: A Living Legacy|last=Porter|first=Frank W.|date=1990|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313267161|pages=54|language=en}}

Art career

Leaf's baskets can be found in collections at the Newark Museum of New Jersey,{{Cite web |title=Arts of the Americas |url=https://www.newarkmuseum.org/arts-americas |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819011027/https://www.newarkmuseum.org/arts-americas |archive-date=19 August 2018 |access-date=8 March 2018 |website=Newark Museum |language=en}} the North American Indian Traveling College of Ontario, the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, NY,{{Cite web|last=Iroquois Indian Museum|title=Iroquois Indian Museum|url=https://www.iroquoismuseum.org/}} and the National Museum of the American Indian.{{Cite web |title=Basket with Cover by Mary Leaf |url=http://www.nmai.si.edu/searchcollections/item.aspx?irn=278093&partyid=4029&src=1-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326203904/http://www.nmai.si.edu/searchcollections/item.aspx?irn=278093&partyid=4029&src=1-2 |archive-date=26 March 2018 |access-date=8 March 2018 |website=Smithsonian - National Museum of the American Indian |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=King |first=Micki |date=Winter 2007 |title=Local Basket Makers Honored at Smithsonian Folklife Festival |url=http://www.akwesasne.ca/node/271 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326142618/http://www.akwesasne.ca/node/271 |archive-date=26 March 2018 |access-date=8 March 2018 |website=Mohawk Council of Akwesasne |language=en}} In 2015, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery featured her baskets in an exhibition, Woven from Wood.{{Cite news |last=MacKay |first=Alastair |date=16 July 2015 |title=Baskets in gallery spotlight |language=en |work=The Chronicle-Journal |url=http://www.chroniclejournal.com/news/local/baskets-in-gallery-spotlight/article_91fefa10-2bd4-11e5-a222-1b85e7e3ab84.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106011917/https://www.chroniclejournal.com/news/local/baskets-in-gallery-spotlight/article_91fefa10-2bd4-11e5-a222-1b85e7e3ab84.html |archive-date=6 January 2023}}

Honours

In 1983, Leaf was honoured at a special banquet for Akwesasne basket makers hosted in Hogansburg, New York.{{Cite news |date=17 November 1983 |title=The Akwesasne Basketmakers: A Special Heritage and Tradition |work=Fort Covington Sun |url=http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075727/1983-11-17/ed-1/seq-1.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714011700/http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88075727/1983-11-17/ed-1/seq-1.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2019 |via=NYS Historic Newspapers}}