When Jennifer Lee was growing up, her home town of Harrison, New York was divided by a railroad track. On one side lived the Jewish population, and on the other, Catholic Italians. Lee grew up on the Jewish side, unaware of her Jewish heritage, but attended church with the Catholic Italians. That experience later cemented a life-long purpose to serve as a bridge between cultures.

Later, as a young woman unaware of her Native American heritage, Lee lived in a tepee in Northern California for several years, where her first child was born.

For the past 35 years, Lee has made her home in rural Plainfield, Massachusetts, where she cuts trees on her own land, harvests the bark and searches the woods for other materials to make bark baskets.

Historically, Native Americans used baskets for storage and for gathering food, water and other supplies crucial for their survival. Unlike the more common woven baskets, Lee’s bark baskets are made from a single piece of bark, folded to create shape, then sewn together with spruce roots and rimmed with red osier dogwood. Ash and white pine bark are her preferred materials.

Lee learned to make bark baskets about 40 years ago, by studying Native history and watching a man make them at a Vermont powwow. Since then, she has taught her craft at many Native American gatherings around the country, and offers classes to small groups.

“I enjoy it immensely when I teach bark basket making. I feel like I’m truly myself, and people love me for it,” she said.

Jennifer Lee will be demonstrating basket making and selling her bark baskets at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Powwow in Warner on July 8 and 9. But when the call of the drums lures her to dance, she’ll join the other dancers in the field wearing an 18th-century-style powwow outfit she made. Lee enjoys attending powwows around New England and Canada, where she mingles with many friends and helps educate others about Native traditions.

“I bring my grandchildren, camp and dance with them and expose them to our beautiful culture,” she said.

The Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Powwow is a Native American celebration entire families will enjoy. Jennifer Lee hopes that you will attend, meet her and other Native People and learn about their traditions.

More information about the powwow may be found on: indianmuseum.org.

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