Micmac Quillwork: Micmac Indian Techniques of Porcupine Quill Decoration, 1600-1950
By: Ruth Holmes Whitehead; with an appendix on quilled-bark conservation by Deborah Jewett.
Publisher: Nova Scotia Museum
Published: January 1, 1982
Place of publication: Halifax, N.S
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9780919680227
Copyright date: 1982 The Nova Scotia Museum
Subjects: Micmac art.; Micmac Indians -- Industries.; Quillwork -- Maritime Provinces.; Quillwork -- New England.
Description: "The Micmac Indian women of Eastern Canada and New England have long been noted for their exquisite work in porcupine quills, particularly their mosaics of quills on birchbark. 'Micmac Quillwork', the first major work on this art form, falls naturally into three sections. 

The opening chapters are a comprehensive history of the craft, from the period of European contact to the present, tracing the use of quill weaving, embroidery, plaiting, wrapping, and the rise of the technique known as bark-insertion. As bark-insertion was the only type of quillwork to survive into the 19th and 20th centuries, the book's main emphasis is on this variation. 

Section Two covers materials, construction and ornamentation techniques, with Section Three an exhaustive record of quillwork designs. Comparisons are made to similar motifs in other Micmac media. 

An appendix discusses known quillwork artists; another deals with the conservation of quillwork. 
There is an extensive bibliography." - from the dust jacket.
Includes over 500 b&w illustrations/pictures (and 32 colour pictures) of quillwork items of the Micmac people.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 216-219.
No index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; label: 1
title: Proto-Historic Techniques; label: 2
title: The French Connection and the Rise of Barkwork; label: 3
title: Quillwork on Bark; label: 4
title: Materials, Porcupine Quills, Dyes, Birchbark, Spruce Root,Wood, Sweet Grass; label: 5
title: Construction Techniques; label: 6
title: Ornamentation Techniques, Using Porcupine Quills; label: 7
title: Ornamentation Techniques, Using Spruce Root; label: 8
title: Design Motifs, Quillwork on Bark; title: Appendix 1; title: Appendix 2: Quilled-bark Conservation by Deborah Jewett; title: Bibliography