Mary Kawennatakie Adams

Mary Kawennatakie Adams (January 24, 1917 – May 23, 1999) was an Akwesasronon textile artist and basket maker.

Background Adams, a hereditary member of the Mohawk wolf clan, was born on Cornwall Island at Akwesasne on the Mohawk Nation, which straddles the New York/Canadian border.

Career Her Mohawk name Kawennatakie means "approaching voice." She had no formal education after age 16 and did not learn English until well into adulthood. The Ontario, Canada- born artist's childhood was spent close to her mother and grandmother.

In 1980, Adams presented Pope John Paul II at the Vatican with a basket specially made to honor the beatification of now Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, a noted 17th-century Mohawk-Algonquian woman. Thornburn described the design of this basket, known as the Pope Basket, as "highly architectural and almost baroque. . ."The design of the basket lid may reflect the papal zucchetto, or skullcap. Also, the shape of the basket is similar to Michelangelo's grand dome of St. Peter's Basilica."

Family She married Michael Adams on September 18, 1939. The couple had twelve children. Barreiro, Jose. Native American Expressive Culture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, 1994. Blue Spruce, Duane & Thrasher, Tanya. The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes, and the National Museum of the American Indian. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution, 2008. Cook, Katsi. "A Voice Coming Towards Us: A Tribute to Mohawk Basketmaker Mary Adams." Akwekon Journal 11.1 (1994): 28–29. Cook, Katzi. "An Interview With Mohawk Basketmaker Mary Adams." Unbroken Circles: Traditional Arts of Contemporary Woodland Peoples. Edited by S. Dixon. Ithaca, NY: American Indian Program, 1990. Folwell, Jody. Hold Everything! Masterworks of Basketry and Pottery From the Heard Museum. Phoenix, Arizona: Heard Museum, 2001. Green, Rayna & Fernandez, Melanie. The British Museum Encyclopedia of Native North America. London, England: British Museum Press, 1999. Hartigan, Lyndan Roscoe. Made with Passion; The Hemphill Folk Art Collection Washington: Smithsonian Institution & National Museum of American Art, 1990. Keating, Neal. Mary Adams: An Exhibition of Her Work, October 5 Through December 14, 1997. Howes Cave, New York: Iroquois Indian Museum, 1997. LaPlantz, Shereen. Plaited Basketry: The Woven Form. Bayside, Cal.: Press de LaPlantz, 1982. Mowat, Linda et al. Basketmakers: Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets. Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, 1992. Porter, Frank W. ed. The Art of Native American Basketry: A Living Legacy. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Pulleyn, Rob. The Basketmaker's Art: Contemporary Baskets and Their Makers. Asheville, N.C.: Lark Books, 1992. Racette, Sherry Farrell. Looking for Stories and Unbroken Threads: Museum Artifacts as Women's History and Cultural Legacy. Restoring the Balance: First Nations Women, Community, and Culture Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009. Reno, Dawn E. Contemporary Native American Artists. Brooklyn, New York: Alliance Publishing, 1995. Richter, Paula Bradstreet. Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony. Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum, 2008. Steinbaum, Bernice. Crossing the Threshold: Invitational Group Exhibition: Mary Adams Mary ... [et al.] New York: Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, 1997. Stock, Michele. Iroquois Basketry Thrives: Reports on a NYFS Mentoring Project New York Folklore Society Newsletter 20.1/2 (1999): 15. Teleki, Gloria Roth. Collecting Traditional American Basketry. New York: Dutton, 1979. Weatherford, Elizabeth et al. Native Americans on Film and Video, Volume 1. New York: Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation, 1981. Young, Jane M. "Film Reviews." Journal of American Folklore 97.385 (Jul.-Sept, 1984): 382–383.