Deer (buck w/antler) Larger oval coiled sweetgrass basket, Paul St. John-Mohawk

Description

An alert buck on the lid of
this oval coiled sweetgrass basket
by Paul
St John, Mohawk craftsman is, I think,  one of Paul's finest quill creations to date.  Paul has made many quill animals, fox, bear, moose - and even more birds, cardinal, eagle, loon, blue jay, hawk, hummingbird, chickadee. I am forgetting some I am sure
. Each of these is beautiful -  But this deer has such perfect alert stance, great placement of the natural white porcupine quills matching where a deer would be lighter - and the antler, eye, and ear are so realistic!  Here the birch bark medallion at center of the lid is separated from the coiled tidal sweetgrass by a border of black dyed porcine quills. The deer is dyed a veriagated rich reddish brown, it is standing on green grass with a few fall leaves (red and orange) dotting the ground.
This oval basket
has birch bark at center of lid and used as the bottom -  then co
iled tidal sweetgrass.  It is 7.25" long,  5.75" across and 2.5" high.
The birch bark medallion at
center top is 6" long by 4.5" wide.  This is the first deer basket of Paul's I have offered... I hope to be able to offer many more!
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.