ABOUT

THE COLLECTION

The Wabanaki fancy basket collection, gathered by Larry and Debbie Onie since 1978, is American art which spans the time period from the early nineteenth century to the present. The collection includes outstanding examples of every form of fancy basket created by the Wabanaki, including several that are one-of-a-kind.

 

Museum curators and Wabanaki artists who have examined the collection at the Onie's request - and researched the history and origins of the artworks in their collection - have been uniformly impressed by the pristine condition, variety, and unusual forms of the Onie's baskets. Several of the baskets are now part of the permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

In addition to its contribution to American art, this collection is significant as a comprehensive resource for contemporary and future basket makers, who may soon have to turn to alternative basket making materials. This is due to the fact that the emerald ash borer insect, which has been damaging the ash trees from which the baskets are made, has been eradicated as a threat to the brown ash trees of Maine.

 

The Onie Collection of Wabanaki Baskets is one of the largest collections of its kind either privately or publicly held. It forms an important artistic and historic record of American art and is, in itself, a historic collection.

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LARRY ONIE

As an educator for thirty-four years, Larry Onie  taught both undergraduate and graduate organizational behavior courses at Northeastern University, Boston University, and Simmons College. While at Simmons, he received a six year appointment as a Danforth Foundation Associate in recognition of his work as an outstanding undergraduate educator who blended liberal arts and professional education. After receiving his undergraduate degree in political science from George Washington University, he served as a VISTA Volunteer in Washington, D.C. Larry’s graduate degrees are from the University of Michigan (MSW) and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University (MPA). 

 

In his professional work outside of the classroom, Larry founded the Building Bridges on Dialogue Project and has served as an organizational development and community development consultant to the Boston School System, Children's Hospital, New England Medical Center, Blessed Sacrament School, the Office for Children, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
 

Having been a member of the Human Relations/ Youth Resources Commission of Brookline, Massachusetts for a number of years, Larry  now serves on the Indigenous Peoples Day Committee of Brookline, and is a member of the Belgrade Lakes Association, and the Belgrade Lakes Regional Conservation Association.
 

DEBBIE ONIE

Debbie, who has a B.A. in art history and an M.Ed., developed and taught an interdisciplinary curriculum encompassing all areas of learning in private schools in the Boston area for thirty-six years. Along with her teaching, Debbie conducted professional development sessions for teachers on establishing effective working relationships between students, teachers, and parents as well as serving as a curriculum evaluator for the textbook division of McGraw Hill Publishing Company. Prior to her classroom teaching, Debbie worked at the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Museum of Art, in Washington, D.C., the Everson Museum of Art, in Syracuse, New York, and for six years was the Director of the Children's Art Program at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. 

 
The Onie's have received The Lake Smart Award from the Belgrade Lakes Association for their environmentally responsible work in the Belgrade Lakes area.