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Basket weaving is a legacy in the Keezer family. From left Claras 5 Fancy Basket son Rocky Keezers 4 Watermelon and 6 Corn baskets Claras 6 Fancy and 4 Plum baskets and Rockys 5 Strawberry Basket weaving is a legacy in the Keezer family. From left Claras 5 Basket son Rocky Keezers 4 Fancy and 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5 1 0 9 Maine Life BasketscourtesytheaBBeMuseuM Weaves of GrassClara neptune Keezer not only lives the magic of her art shes a star on eBay. By Bunny McBride i ts rare to sell ones first piece of art espe- cially if youre just 8 years old. But Passa- maquoddy artist Clara Neptune Keezer did just that. It was a small candy basket woven with ash splints. The buyer paid her 25 cents and fittingly little Clara spent her earnings on candy. Eight decades later shes still making baskets but today her finely crafted pieces can garner hundreds of dollars. Theyve been featured in many exhibitions including a one-woman show at the Farn- sworth Museum in Rockland and are in mu- seumsandprivatecollectionsacrosstheUnit- S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5 1 0 9 Clara has stayed true to her grandmothers demand during a lifetime of weaving reach- ing for perfection with every twist and turn of every strand in every basket she makes. She weaves those strands into a surprising array of forms including a cornucopia of brightly col- ored baskets shaped like fruits and vegetables. Jennifer Neptune director of the Maine In- dian Basketmakers Alliance MIBA sounds gleeful when talking about Claras baskets When you go to Claras table at the annu- al Native American Festival in Bar Har- bor youre excited because you know there ed States and beyond. Clara grew up on the Passamaquod- dy Reservation at Pleasant Point Sipayik in Perry. She lived with her grand parents Alice a Penobscot and Joseph Neptune. It was Alice who first showed Clara how how to prepare brown ash splints how to pick clean and braid sweet grass and how to weave the two materials together into a basket. From her she also learned the im- portance of doing quality work If I made a mistake Clara recalls shed say fix it and I did