People of the First Light

Our core exhibit, People of the First Light, shares a wide variety of content and perspectives around more than 12,000 years of history, conflict, adaptation, and survival in the Wabanaki homeland.

Visit the page for People of the First Light here.

Wabanaki Modern: The Artistic Legacy of the 1960s “Micmac Indian Craftsmen”

The “Micmac Indian Craftsmen” were the first modern Indigenous artists in Atlantic Canada and developed an international following almost overnight. Their work was inspired by traditional Wabanaki stories, and their visual language was eclectic, often minimalist, and unabashedly contemporary. With almost no reflection in the current canon of New Brunswick visual art or Indigenous studies, it is staggering to see how intense and promising the studio’s accolades and patronage once were -- though several generations later, these have become all but lost to the distractions of time.

Curated by Emma Hassencahl-Perley, Tobique First Nation, and John Leroux and organized by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton, New Brunswick). Exhibition made possible thanks to support from TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.

 The exhibit opens in May 2023 and will run through October 2024.

Waponahki Student Art

A collaboration with Maine Indian Education, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Border Towns, and the Abbe Museum, the annual Waponahki Student Art Show brings together a wonderful variety of art created by Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet, and Micmac students from early childhood education through high school. The styles, media, and images vary throughout the exhibition, but place, culture, and identity have a strong presence in these original works.

The Abbe Museum is honored to present this year's artwork digitally for audiences who aren't able to view it in person.  Click here to view the gallery! Thank you to the students, teachers, and school staff for making this incredible exhibit possible!

Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos II: Star Stories of the Dawnland

The Abbe Museum partnered with schools in the Wabanaki communities to give students the opportunity to research, learn about, and photograph the cosmos using telescopes owned and maintained by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The resulting exhibit, Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos II: Star Stories of the Dawnland, features photos taken by children in the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Penobscot, and Micmac communities in Maine.

In affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Abbe's Museum*

Visit the original Abbe Museum, built as a trailside museum in 1928. The exhibits focus on the archaeology of Maine and are reminiscent of the way the museum would have looked when it originally opened. See how bone and stone tools and pottery were made, explore artifacts from the museum's early collections, and find examples of artifacts from many towns around eastern Maine.

An introductory exhibit gives you a brief history of the Abbe Museum and is complimented by a giant map of Mount Desert Island and the surrounding area, made by museum founder Robert Abbe. A visitor favorite, four dioramas depict life on Mount Desert Island before the arrival of Europeans.

*Components of this exhibit are currently on display at the Abbe Museum Downtown location.

The Basket Tree

In recent decades, a new threat has endangered the basketmaking tradition in Maine -- the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle which kills ash trees. On May 29, 2018, the presence of the emerald ash borer beetle in Maine was officially confirmed by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry.

 Ash and sweetgrass baskets are one of the best-known Wabanaki art forms, and many people make or supplement their income through basket production. The Abbe’s new exhibit, The Basket Tree co-curated by Darren Ranco (Penobscot) and Jennifer Neptune (Penobscot), explores the ability of the Wabananki to protect this important cultural resource on and off reservation lands, so that livelihoods of Maine’s Indian basketmakers can continue and flourish for generations to come.