The Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) is ... dedicated to preserving the ancient traditions of ash and sweetgrass basketry among the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes in Maine.
This woman chanted before the opening of their show. |
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Ray Murphy
Ray has carved over 50,000 pieces of chainsaw carvings. His grandfather was a famous "Mountain Man" and his great grandfather was an Indian Chief on a reservation in Wyoming. |
We stopped when we read his sign—chainsaw carvings.
He appeared quickly and took us on a tour, invited us into his shop and showed us around. |
"Ray went on to become famous, taking his art all over the country, racking up well over a million miles on his big bus. He has held crowds spellbound by carving people's initials on wooden belt buckles--while they were wearing them. "
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At present the bus is retired.
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"Robert Ripley featured Ray in his syndicated column after a chainsaw-banishing Ray carved the entire alphabet onto a common lead pencil." Ray showed us numerous newspaper articles and the Ripley article.
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Sitting out there in his yard.
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One of his carvings—
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Ray Murphy sawed 16 numbers on a toothpick during The Worlds Number One Chainsaw Sawyer Art Stage Show on August 6,2007.
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Outside an ice cream store in Bar Harbor, Maine.
When I saw this I went inside the ice cream store and asked, "Did Wild Mountain Man carve the lobster?" "Yes." His work is pretty distinctive. |
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How cool~ I love every single thing about this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! R
urmysunshine · 2008-07-19: 21:11
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Very informative and facinating post, thanks for posting it.
youlookmahvelous · 2008-07-19: 22:06
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Interesting reportage!!Nice shots!!
somogyvari · 2008-07-20: 05:47
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Very nice set! Thanks for sharing=))
relee · 2008-07-20: 15:28
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I enjoyed this set, especially the sweetgrassw baskets. They are quite different than the ones made in Charleston, SC.
Queen911 · 2008-07-20: 20:17
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very enjoable shots, great work!
sendao · 2008-07-20: 21:20
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Wow! Fascinating post, thanks for sharing!
ScubaLiz · 2008-07-20: 21:46
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Did you take any baskets home with you? They are amazing! Fantastic post of some of the artistry and people there.
vollenda · 2008-07-20: 22:51
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great documentary I love down east
jonrake · 2008-07-21: 11:25
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I love this post - memorable!
Robertthebob · 2008-07-21: 16:39
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great documentary/reportage and visual story telling.
letrato · 2008-07-22: 13:25
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Aren't those baskets just gorgeous? I admire their talent. I do hope they keep their traditions alive. And Mr. Murphy looks like quite a character with talent as well!
oldbabe · 2008-07-24: 05:55
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