Edith Bondie (1918-2005) was a basketmaker whose work is in the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is an art museum in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Eiteljorg houses an extensive collection of visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as Western Ame ...

, and the

Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan The Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan is a community museum serving Alpena County and surrounding counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. Alpena is a port city on Lake Huron. The museum defines its role broadly to preserve, protect and pre ...

. Bondie was a Chippewa Indian born in 1918 in Mikado, Michigan. Her mother was also a basketmaker. For her baskets, Bondie typically used

black ash Black ash is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Acer negundo'', native to North America * ''Fraxinus nigra ''Fraxinus nigra'', or the black ash, is a species of ash native to much of eastern Canada and the northeastern United ...

from around her home. Bondie participated in the 1972 Alpena Fall Harvest Festival held at the in Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan. In 1985, Bondie won the Michigan Heritage Award for her basketweaving. In 1989, Bondie joined Native American artists Michele Gauthier and Sally Thielen for an art exhibition in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. She is featured in Pat Kirkham's 2000 book, ''Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference.'' In 2005, Bondie died at Hubbard Lake, Michigan. In May 2022, Bondie's work was acquired by the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

for their exhibit "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondie, Edith 1918 births 2005 deaths People from Alcona County, Michigan American women basket weavers American basket weavers Ojibwe women artists Ojibwe artists 20th-century American women artists Artists from Michigan