Henry Arquette

Henry Arquette was born on the Canadian side of the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation and grew up on the American side, in northern New York State. As a child, he could hear for miles the sound of men pounding black ash logs to make splints for baskets. He learned the craft from his father and grandfather. For forty-three years he labored as an ironworker, building bridges, skyscrapers and other projects, such as the Unisphere at the 1964 World’s Fair. The work involved travel to sites as distant as Houston, leaving little time for basketry. After retiring in 1993, he devoted himself to making baskets and teaching others to do so at the Akwesasne Cultural Center in Hogansburg, New York.

Arquette’s students wove the baskets after others had done the hard work of using an ax to extract splints from black ash logs. “You got to pound it real good to get good splints,” he told an NEA interviewer. “Then whatever kind of baskets you're making, you cut them to that width, length and everything. Then when you've got enough, you put it in the water overnight. The next day you start from the thin end. Bend it, split it. That's when you weave it, when it's still wet.” Rims and handles are made of white ash, which is stronger. Arquette created functional packing, laundry, picnic, wedding and corn-washing baskets. In a wedding ceremony, the groom traditionally received a basket of food, the bride one bearing material for clothing, to reflect their roles.

Black ash has become scarce on the reservation because of overuse, pollution, insect infestation and plant disease. Arquette’s efforts in protecting the resource were rewarded with the National Aboriginal Forestry Association’s Ross Silversides Forestry Award in 2001. The trees are making a comeback, he said, but for the present, getting good wood involves a three-hour drive into Canada to purchase logs.

In 2004, Arquette received the Traditional Arts of Upstate New York’s North Country Heritage Award. He was also a member of a group of Mohawk basketmakers that received the same award in 1994. His baskets are in the National Museum of the American Indian and other collections around the world.