Announcement: NEA-funded Folklife Survey of the Columbia River Gorge

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded the Oregon Folklife Network funding to identify and document cultural traditions in the Columbia River Gorge counties of Hood River, Wasco, Jefferson, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow, and Umatilla as well as with the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

As Oregon’s designated Folk & Traditional Arts Program, the OFN is dedicated to finding excellent performers, demonstrators, and speakers for our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, local festivals, school and library programs in order to preserve and celebrate folkways throughout the state. Folklorists Debbie Fant and Nancy Nusz will be conducting the fieldwork, which involves interviewing and photo documentation. Fant will be in Morrow and Umatilla counties and at the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla starting in September with the Pendleton Round-up and throughout the year until June 2015. Nusz will be in Hood River, Wasco, Jefferson, Sherman, and Gilliam counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs from March to June 2015. They will be documenting people involved with traditions related to hunting, farming, commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing, ranching, logging, and mining, as well as river work, trapping, tanning, food preservation, and beekeeping. They are also particularly interested in the ethnic heritage traditions of the regions’ residents, such as Native, Asian, African American, Latino, European, and more.

Nancy Nusz (MA, Western Kentucky University) began her folklore career at the Bureau of Florida Folklife, serving as Folk Arts in Education coordinator & conducting fieldwork (maritime, ethnic urban communities, agriculture, circus). In 1991, she came to the Oregon Folklife Program (previously housed at the Oregon Historical Society), first as coordinator & then director, conducting fieldwork & programming, curating exhibits, & developing curriculum. She has worked for UNESCO and is very excited to be meeting with old friends and interviewing new ones in Oregon’s Gorge region.

Deborah Fant (MA, UT Austin) has been a public folklorist for over 20 years, first as a fieldworker for the Bureau of Florida Folklife. She has worked as the Idaho state folklorist, Manager of the Cowboy Poetry Gathering (Western Folklife Center), Deputy Director of Northwest Folklife, and now for the Washington State Parks & Recreation Commission. Fant has conducted fieldwork, directed festivals, edited publications, and curating exhibits and is thrilled to be investigating traditions in eastern Oregon.

Highlights from Folk Arts in the Parks

In June 2014, six Oregon artists delivered special presentations about the history and cultural significance of their crafts and traditions at state parks across Oregon. Folk Arts in the Parks was sponsored by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) along with the Oregon Folklife Network, the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust. With the help of Parks and OFN staff, this diverse group of artists engaged with audiences through demonstrations, Q&A, and community conversation. Continue reading

A McKenzie River Legend

by Bruno Seraphin, Folklore Graduate Student

 
McKenzie River Fishing Guide and storyteller Robin Alexander relayed this story to me. The central character here is a fellow who lived by the McKenzie in the late 1800’s and claimed to be the “real” Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s famous book. There are a number of outlandish stories about this eccentric man. This one tells how “Finn Rock” came to be so named.

Robin Alexander:

“He claimed that the rock was laying sideways in the wagon road. And he tied a whole bunch of cables and ropes to it, and he took a mule train across the river. And what he did was, he took those mules and pulled that rock up straight off the wagon road and stood it up right, where it exists now in the river.

And what happened was, the mules, right before it could go completely up straight, the mules were stopped because they were up against the mountain. So, what he had to do was pour water on the leather strappings. And from the sun, the leather dried and drew that rock up the rest of the way straight where it wouldn’t fall back, and that’s where it is today.

And there’s always a saying, if you look real close you can find cable marks on that rock. So, anybody that wants to can go look for those.”

Two Fisher Poets in Eugene

by Adrienne Decker, Folklore Graduate Student

On May Day, two fisherpoets arrived in Eugene to introduce our community to songs, stories, and poems about the lives of the men and women working in the commercial fishing industry. Jon Broderick and Jay Speakman, both organizers of the annual FisherPoets Gathering, lead a poetry workshop and evening of performance at Cozmic Pizza. During this fundraiser for the Oregon Folklife Network, Jon and Jay performed a variety of songs for the crowd, trading jokes and sharing anecdotes with the enthusiastic crowd of community members, folklorists, and family and friends.

The following day, the duo brought their stories to the Many Nations Longhouse for a more informal workshop with University of Oregon students. The two shared many of their poems and stories but also engaged in a dialogue about the struggles and joys of commercial fishing.

Jon emphasized the value of the self-reliant fisherman lifestyle and the creativity of the fishing community. He shared many stories about his sons and their forays into the trade, affirming that fishing is as much about family as it is the love of the work and the sea.  This vibrant community has found creative expression through the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon, a three-day event that includes performances, storytelling, and many reunions of old friends. Having served as organizers for the event for over a decade, Jon and Jay noted that the stories and experiences shared at the Gathering—sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, but always passionately articulated—are highly inspirational and always push them to become better writers and performers. For those interested in the unique communities of the Pacific Northwest as well as lovers of a tale well told, fisher poetry offers much to learn and appreciate.

Folklife Survey of Southeastern Oregon: Harney and Malheur Counties

by Adrienne Decker, Folklore Graduate Student

While many in Western Oregon don’t often have much opportunity to venture east of the Cascades, the high desert of Oregon is full of a rich cultural and historical heritage that should be of interest to our local lovers of artistic and homesteading traditions.

As we learned on our visit to Burns and surroundings to shadow folklorist Douglas Manger for a couple days of his NEA-funded folklife survey of Harney County, Oregon has a high concentration of tradition keepers, artisans, and performers.

Continue reading

Words Washed in with the Tide: FisherPoet Fieldwork in Port Townsend

by Julie Meyer, Folklore Graduate Student

On a drizzly Thursday afternoon in March, I threw my camping gear into my car and headed north towards Port Townsend, Washington, with my dog and my recorder in tow. During the long car ride I could feel the adrenaline of conducting my first solo fieldwork expedition motivating me.Only a month earlier I had been in Astoria, Oregon, attending the annual FisherPoets Gathering as a student fieldworker representing the Oregon Folklife Network. After building rapport with a few of the women FisherPoets in Astoria, I was invited to attend the She Tells Sea Tales event in Port Townsend, Washington. This event was hosted in support of the Girls Boat Project, an organization created to support the young women of the community in their pursuit of the seas.

As the event kicked off to a start in the Northwest Maritime Center, I was able to hear sea shanties sung, stories told, poetry read, and prose performed. The range of performances included both original folk art and traditional folklore from women and girls from across the Pacific Northwest.

The day after the event I was able to meet with Erin Friestad for an hour long interview in a café in the city center, and she shared with me stories of her time working at sea as well as her work as a poet. While I had originally hoped to pull more interviews from my time in Port Townsend, I was able to establish deeper relationships with the fisherwomen I have come to admire for their strength and perseverance.

OFN Represents at Western States Folklore Conferences

Oregon Folklife Network staff members attended concurrent conferences from April 10-13: The Western States Folklore Society Conference and the Association of Western States Folklorists Conference. Both conferences this year were held at Utah State University in Logan, Utah.

OFN Graduate Research Fellow (GRF) Em Knott, along with fellow graduate students Adrienne Decker and Julie Meyer, spoke about the 2014 FisherPoets Gathering. GRF Bruno Seraphin presented a paper and some film clips from his work with the Green Grass Cloggers of Western North Carolina.

Program Manager Emily West Afanador facilitated working sessions at the Association of Western States Folklorists meeting. Thanks to supplemental funding from WESTAF, OFN sent two additional professionals emerging in the field of folklore: Lyle Murphy and Maya Muñoz-Tobón, both recent graduates from University of Oregon’s Folklore program and Arts and Administration program respectively.

The conferences were fantastic; we feel honored to be among such an excellent community of Western States folklorists!

McKenzie River Folklife

The McKenzie River Guides Association hosted a dutch oven cook-off on April 19th. The annual event happens just before the beginning of guiding season, and started years ago as a way for all the guides to come together to get their boats inspected.  Over the years the tradition evolved into a fun (and delicious) community event that shows off the guides’ cooking expertise.

Wooden Boat Festival
On April 26th, the McKenzie River Guide community held its 9th annual Wooden Boat Festival at Eagle Rock Lodge, in Vida, “celebrating the history, the form and the function of the wooden white water boat that was invented here on McKenzie River.”

Don’t Miss Fisher Poetry in Eugene!

Oregon Folklife Network presents an interactive arts workshop followed by an evening of entertainment with Fisher Poets, Jon Broderick and Jay Speakman, at Cozmic Pizza in Eugene on Thursday, May 1. Workshop at 4; Performance at 7pm.

Come learn more about one of Oregon’s unique occupations on May 1, and celebrate May Day – a traditional labor holiday! A 4pm workshop on poetry writing and recitation is appropriate for both young and adult writers of all experience levels.  The 7pm performance brings the poetry to life with readings, music, jokes, and spoken word.

Fisher Poetry is part of Oregon’s cultural and occupational folklife. An art form unique to commercial fishermen (and women – who incidentally prefer the same name), Fisher Poets express and share their exciting, dangerous, and sublime experiences on the sea through poems and songs.

John and Jay will also be telling stories and performing at the Longhouse of Many Nations on the University of Oregon Campus on Friday, May 2nd. University students are especially encouraged to attend!

Broderick and Speakman, organizers of the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria each year, recite and sing about the dangers of their work, the beauty of a livelihood embedded in nature, and the values they share by growing up amidst small family businesses.  While enjoying their lyrical stories, you’ll learn about their unique skills and laugh at the humor they bring to bizarre challenges that come with enduring impossibly long hours, like sleeping in full rubber attire.
Tickets for each event will be available at the door for sliding scale fee ($3-$20), and will help sustain folklife programming in our state. 

Save the Dates:

Thursday, May 1st at Cozmic Pizza:
Music and Poetry Performance: 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Writing Workshop: 4:00 – 5:30 pm

Friday, May 2nd at the U. of O. Longhouse:
Performances, conversations, and oral history of the FisherPoets Gathering: 12:00 – 2:00 pm

Check out this video of John and Jay!

Japan Nite Obon Festival in Ontario, Oregon

by Douglas Manger, contracted folklorist

More results from our ongoing Survey of Oregon’s Southern counties!Ontario, Oregon has an unusually high concentration of Japanese-Americans. During WWII, some of the Japanese and Japanese Americans placed in the internment camps were released to work the agricultural harvests. That’s how many came to the Ontario area. Key Ontario leaders welcomed them, and many elected to stay.

Ontario is home to the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple, at one time the second largest Buddhist temple in the Northwest. On June 29th of 2013, the temple held its 67th annual Japan Nite Obon Festival, a celebration of culture, sharing, and understanding. The event features traditional Japanese food, (Obari) folk dance, music, and dress. Madame Kanriye Fujima, now retired, taught traditional Japanese art forms in Ontario for many years. She has been an integral part of the Obon Festival since its beginnings. Sangha Taiko, a Japanese American drum ensemble sponsored by the temple, performs each year at the festival. Resident minister Reverend Joshin Dennis Fujimoto and Michelle Sadamori are lead members of the group. Janet Komoto heads Kawa Taiko, Ontario’s other Japanese drum ensemble. Komoto is of Chinese descent. She has been active with the Kawa Taiko group for over a decade.