Carrying Our Past, Beading Our Future

Carrying Our Past, Beading Our Future

by | Oct 7, 2025

Carrying Our Past, Beading Our Future Beading demonstration & talk by Abenaki artist Kimberly-Ann Lussier Saturday, November 1 11am–12pm FREE event sponsored by the Brewster Lecture Series

Learn about the cultural and historic significant of beadwork at this talk and demonstration.

Portsmouth South End photograph by Ken Goldman

Artist Statement:

Through each bead, I stitch resistance and remembrance. My work honors the ancestors who walked before me, carrying their strength into the present. Beading is my voice-unyielding, radiant, and alive-proclaiming that Indigenous presence will never be erased.

About the Artist:

 
Kimberly-Ann, 33, is an enrolled member of the Missisquoi band of Abenaki of northern Vermont and is an experienced bead worker. Born and raised in southern New Hampshire, Kimberly-Ann has been involved in her culture all her life. She began beading at the age of 12 when she was taught by a family member and continues to learn and incorporate new techniques in her work today. She has made pieces for many friends, family members, and customers; she has also made pieces featured in Peacock’s series Rutherford Falls. When not beading she can be found singing at powwows and spending time with her friends, family, and dog SadieMae.

See more work and shop!

This program is generously sponsored as a part of our  William and Arlene Brewster Lecture Series.

Brewster Series: Bark Basket Making Workshop

Brewster Series: Bark Basket Making Workshop

by | Sep 15, 2023

Bark basket with an outline of a tree sewn onto the front

Learn traditional bark basket making techniques

Photos by Ted B. Sierad, Ed & Helen Pelletier

Small bark basket with a leather string tied around the center.

Learn about our workshop leader, Jennifer Lee

Artist Statement:

These bark baskets are made from the trees around my house. Following the season of “loose bark moon” or when the bark is slipping, the bark is peeled from a ladder so it won’t get ruined during felling. By selectively thinning the forest, which is a 45 year overgrown apple orchard, I’ve sustained my bark basket supply and improved the woods.

Historical accounts of the use of Ash, Oak, Pine, Spruce, Elm, Chestnut, Linden and Birch barks to cover wigwams encouraged me to try different barks for baskets. These baskets are made from trees that shaded the garden and needed to be taken down.
Buffalo or Bison is the material culture of the Nations of the Western Plains: the Lakota and the Osage. Bark is the material culture of the Northeast woodland tribes: the Abenaki, Ojibway, Narragansett and Pequot.

Joy describes the feeling of taking only bark roots and branches, and making something strong and usable in the tradition of my Native ancestors. People get so happy and proud when they fashion something so beautiful and durable from the woods. The trees make a way for me to share, celebrate, express, participate and contribute.

Brewster Lecture Series: “Book Illustration Process.”

Brewster Lecture Series: “Book Illustration Process.”

by | Oct 25, 2022

Join two of the artists featured in “Show + Tell,” Jill Weber illustrator of Cat in the City and Ryan O’Rourke illustrator of “Let’s Build a Little Train,” for a lively discussion about the process of illustrating a book.

Thursday, November 17, 6:30 pm

FREE for members, $15 for non-members

Get your tickets

Jill Weber doubles as a children’s book illustrator and designer. Her favorite projects are the ones where she wears both hats. She has illustrated numerous books for children and adults, including The Story of Hanukkah, a NYTimes holiday pick, The Story Of Passover, and New York Times bestseller The Christmas Tree, which was written by Julie Salamon. Jill and Julie also collaborated on Cat in the City (Dial Books 2014) and Mutt’s Promise (Dial Books 2016 ). This year her new books are Pippa’s Passover by Vivan Kirkfield (Holiday House), What is the Story of Hello Kitty? (Penguin Workshop ) and Goodnight Bubbala by Sheryl Haft. When Jill is not at her drawing board, she can be found in her garden.

 

Show + Tell: Greater Seacoast Illustrators

OCTOBER 28–DECEMBER 30, 2022

Celebrating contemporary children’s picturebook illustrators of the greater Seacoast Region

Learn More

Get Outside! Do Something Different!

It’s finally cooled down a bit! Now is definitely the right time to go on one of our walking tours!

Tours go out every day, with specialty tours a few times a month. Get your tickets today!

Nothing fit your schedule? Book a private tour! Just reach out to tour manager Robin Lurie-Meyerkopf or give us a call, 603-436-8433

 

Learn More

Portsmouth 400th Book Available for Pre-Order

In advance of next year’s celebrations, this commemorative book will give readers a sense of “who we are” and “where we are” as Portsmouth continues its journey from our past before 1623 to our future beyond 2023. Each object is depicted with a full-page photograph accompanied by an essay by a local author – 80 different writers who are the historians, experts, participants, and observers of Portsmouth history best able to explain how each object’s story offers a path into our bigger 400+ year history.

Reserve Your Copy Today!

History. Arts. Culture.

Brewster Lecture Series: “Book Illustration Process.”

“Visual Conversations,” Thursday, August 18 at 6:00 pm

by | Aug 12, 2022 | News

Join Cathryn Mercier, PhD, in-person and via Zoom, for a discussion on how the role of picture books and illustration has changed over the past one hundred years.

Thursday, August 18, 6:00 pm

FREE for members, $15 for non-members

As an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College (BA ’81) Cathie Mercier was drawn to the scientific emphasis and empiricism of experimental psychology. A psychology major, she did not take her first course in children’s literature until her senior year. “Like Alice, I fell down the rabbit hole and I’ve yet to come up,” said Mercier.

 

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Special Event with Ten Piscataqua Writers

Wednesday, August 24
5:30 pm–7:30 pm

Merrill Black (nonfiction)
Todd Hearon (poetry)
Clark Knowles (fiction)
Christina Keim (nonfiction)

will read from and sign copies of the newly released anthology celebrating the talents of our region. Copies available in the Museum Shop!

Get Outside! Do Something Different!

It’s finally cooled down a bit! Now is definitely the right time to go on one of our walking tours!

Tours go out every day, with specialty tours a few times a month. Get your tickets today!

Nothing fit your schedule? Book a private tour! Just reach out to tour manager Robin Lurie-Meyerkopf or give us a call, 603-436-8433

 

Learn More

Portsmouth 400th Book Available for Pre-Order

In advance of next year’s celebrations, this commemorative book will give readers a sense of “who we are” and “where we are” as Portsmouth continues its journey from our past before 1623 to our future beyond 2023. Each object is depicted with a full-page photograph accompanied by an essay by a local author – 80 different writers who are the historians, experts, participants, and observers of Portsmouth history best able to explain how each object’s story offers a path into our bigger 400+ year history.

Reserve Your Copy Today!

History. Arts. Culture.

“Visual Conversations: Childhood, New England, and Picture Book Art.”

by | Jun 17, 2022

August 18, 2022 at 6:30pm

“Visual Conversations: Childhood, New England, and Picture Book Art.”

Cathryn Mercier, PhD

In-person and via Zoom

FREE for members, $15 for non-members

Children’s Literature scholar, Cathryn Mercier, PhD, of Simmons University, will discuss how the picture book and the role of illustration has changed over the past one hundred years.

Click here for tickets

As an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College (BA ’81) Cathie Mercier was drawn to the scientific emphasis and empiricism of experimental psychology. A psychology major, she did not take her first course in children’s literature until her senior year. “Like Alice, I fell down the rabbit hole and I’ve yet to come up,” said Mercier.

Cathie was appointed to Simmons in 1985 and has been teaching in the graduate degree program in children’s literature ever since. She teaches criticism, contemporary young adult realism, the child in fiction, the picturebook, and a survey course. Her thesis, independent study, and internship advising embrace a wide range of topics, from a cultural analysis of Printz titles to an annotated bibliography of historical fiction for curricular use. “As advisor of a thesis that asked, ‘What can queer theory tell children’s literature?’ I met regularly with the student to discuss ideas. We both learned from the books, and I hope she learned from me. But I consider it my best teaching experience because of how very much I learned from her,” said Mercier, who was thrilled when part of her student’s thesis was included in a book of new voices in children’s literary criticism.

In addition to teaching, Cathie has contributed to the journal Children’s Literature and to The Horn Book Magazine. Her skill at “close reading, an ability to talk about books so that others see the book at its most ambitious and complex, and a talent for collaboration” has made her a valuable member of national book award committee.  She currently serves on the Subaru Prize Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences/Young Adult Division, and has served on multiple children’s literature award committees.