Fred Tomah

Katahdin Arctic Butterfly Basket with Lid, Brown ash, dyes, 15” x 14” x 14”

Fred Tomah (1951-2018) started making baskets in the 1960s, later apprenticing with master Maliseet basket maker Jim Tomah in 1990, making utilitarian baskets. He later specialized in twill weaving, creating highly original and sought-after designs. Fred was a founding member of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance.

One of Fred’s Katahdin Arctic Butterfly baskets is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Others are at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor and collections nationwide. The butterfly element designed by Fred Tomah represents the endangered Arctic Butterfly, a distinct species that evolved on Maine’s Katahdin (‘Greatest Mountain’), a Wabanaki place of spiritual significance.

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