Ukrainian Traditional Arts and Culture: 2023 Spotlight Series

From February to April 2023, OFN helped bring 6 Ukrainian artists to the University of Oregon campus, providing UO students and the larger Eugene community with an opportunity to learn about Ukrainian culture and its role in the current Ukrainian resistance towards Russian invasion. The series featured folksinger and traditional dancer Inna Kovtun, bandura player Valentyn Lysenko, pysanka artist Kristine Mushkevych, weaver Tetyana Horner, petrykivka artist Marina Malyarenko, and filmmaker and illustrator Sashko Danylenko. For many UO students and Eugene residents, the series presented a unique chance to discover both traditional and contemporary Ukrainian arts, which are often understudied in the US. For Ukrainians living in Eugene, these events became a place to reconnect with their culture and find other Ukrainians.

Kristine Mushkevych. Photo by Iryna Stavynska

OFN graduate employee Iryna Stavynska (from Ukraine), was the main organizer of the series, who credits the help of many others, including fellow OFN Graduate Employee Elise O’Brien (from the U.S.). Read on as they share their impressions of being involved in organizing the series.

Iryna Stavynska, Folklore MA student, Fulbright scholar from Ukraine & Graduate Employee at OFN:

“It was one of the most meaningful things that I got to do during my time in the U.S. For 2 years living in Eugene, I never saw any Ukrainian events, or any other opportunities to learn about Ukrainian arts. I did not feel like there were places where I could really be Ukrainian here – not fully. But until the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, I never really thought about why things were this way. Seeing the war unfold, however, I realized that it was not a coincidence that Ukrainian culture is so underrepresented and understudied in the U.S. The same things that Russia is doing now – killing Ukrainians, occupying our land, and purposefully trying to destroy our culture by murdering Ukrainian artists, forcing Ukrainians to abandon our cultural practices and our language, and stealing and appropriating our heritage – it has done many times before, when Ukraine was part of Russian empire and USSR. For centuries, Russia has been an imperial power that was in the position to silence Ukrainian voices both through physical, brutal force and through cruel policies that forbade practicing Ukrainian language and culture. In the context of this centuries-long history of oppression, it is especially important that we recognize and amplify Ukrainian voices now. Events like this not only give much-needed support to Ukrainian artists (many of whom use their art as a way to raise awareness and fundraise in support of Ukraine), but also the very fact of uplifting Ukrainian culture is in itself an act of resistance, as it helps to sustain the very thing that Russia is trying to destroy – Ukrainian identity, culture, and dignity.”

Tetyana Horner. Photo by Iryna Stavynska

Elise O’Brien, Folklore MA student & Graduate Employee at OFN

Firstly, I want to thank Iryna so much for putting on this series and for having me involved in my small way. The series was impactful; I have learned so much from the Ukrainian artists who have presented. So much makes sense now after learning from Ukrainian personal experiences. In highlighting what I have learned, most importantly, I want to emphasize that folk art is an active resistance to imperialism and oppression.  

I was able to attend and assist with three Ukrainian artist presentations: Tetyana Horner, a weaver, Marina Malyarenko, a petrykivka artist, and Sashko Danylenko, a filmmaker and illustrator. Their presentations covered historic folk-art traditions in Ukraine as well as their modern counterparts. They emphasized folk arts’ role in resisting imperialism. Imperial powers have three goals: to dehumanize the population they are invading, to destroy that population’s cultural heritage and identity, and to remove the connection of people with their landscapes. Because folk art is rooted in place, in connection with the landscape, and uses materials sourced from the landscape to create art and craft, the connection of people with place is also part of cultural identity. When you support folk arts and traditional knowledge you reinforce cultural heritage and unique identity, and in this way, you are also actively resisting imperialism. If the argument of legitimacy of Russian invasion is that Ukraine has no unique culture, Marina, Tetyana and Sashko are the counterargument. 

Marina Malyarenko. Photo by Iryna Stravynska

Tetyana Horner and Marina Malyarenko practice weaving and petrykivka respectively, two Ukrainian folk art forms rooted in centuries of tradition. While,  Marina started her floral painting traditional art form about 5 years prior to coming to the United States, Tetyana dove into Ukrainian weaving after moving to the US. I think it is important to highlight that Tetyana and Marina are both self-taught for much of their craft, finding instruction in related fields and through online study. Even without immediate access to traditional teachers, they have still become incredible traditional folk artists. 

Sashko Danylenko. Photo by Iryna Stranvynska

Sashko Danylenko is more modern in his art. His presentation was centered on a series of comic book style illustrations featuring everyday Ukrainians who became extraordinary after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military. In his stories, he shared how ordinary people become folk heroes. He told the stories of the Ghost of Kyiv, the Witch of Konotop, a man surfing a Russian tank, and of a postal worker who shot down a fighter plane. He shared with the audience videos of ordinary Ukrainians that went viral: small acts of disrespect and resistance to Russian troops that created a cascading effect worldwide. At the JSMA presentation, Sashko’s prints of everyday heroes were available for sale along with t-shirts and totebags. Half of all his profits go to individuals and organizations in Ukraine.

Marina and Sashko are part of a creator’s collective organized to partner creatives in the U.S. with projects and organizations in Ukraine. These are projects that actively support Ukrainian resistance, support the people of Ukraine, and raise money for Ukrainian organizations. These projects range from illustrations for tactical medicine apps to auctioning off fine art. Sashko’s film work includes animations for children suffering from anxiety from the war. 

Helping Iryna with her presentation of Ukrainian folk artists was the most informative and rewarding part of this school year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come Join Us to Celebrate our Oregon Culture Nights with Some of our TAAP 2023 Awardees

Come join us for our Oregon Culture Nights series highlighting our current year’s Traditional Apprenticeship Artists Program awardees. The Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a yearly program that offers a $3,500 stipend to traditional master artists and culture keepers to aid in the teaching of their traditional arts to an apprentice from their same community. Each year, a select few are given this funding to pass on their traditions to others, at the end of the program the artists are required to showcase the work they have been doing with their apprentice. The Oregon Folklife Network offers them a spot in our Oregon Culture Nights where we can showcase their work to our community.

August 10th Sreevidhya Chandramouli:

The series will begin in August where we will start off the event with Sreevidhya Chandramouli who is a tenth-generation descendant from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. The Vina is a traditional Indian stringed instrument. Sreevidhya’s apprentice this year is Nidhi Yadalam who has been working with Sreevidhya for a few five years. They will be giving a performance and Q&A on Thursday, August 10th at 6:00 pm.

August 17th Antonio Huerta:

Please join us to welcome back Antonio Huerta, who will perform the following week, the week of August 17th, where he will perform traditional charrería, a traditional skill in horsemanship, cattle work, and sophisticated rope work. Antonio grew up in Jalisco Mexico where his family made their living farming and raising cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs, and chickens. He learned charrería and his horsemanship skills from his father and grandfather and hopes to pass on these traditions to others. His apprentice this year is Miguel Ruiz Topete, Jr. a young Charro from Corvallis, Oregon. Miguel learned from his father, who trained horses and inspired his passion for riding, roping, and cattle work. Antonio will be showcasing his rope skills during his performance and giving a demonstration on charrería, before opening the floor for a quick Q&A.

August 24th Kumu Hula Andrea Luchese:

Next up in the series on Thursday August 24th, is Kuma Hula (Master teacher) Andrea Luchese, the founder and teacher for for Hālau Hula Ka Pi’o O Ke Ānuenue “the arch of the rainbow,”, a Hawaiian cultural dance school. She learned under the teachings of Kumu Hula Raylene Haʻaleleʻa Kawaiaeʻa and Kumu Hula Keala Ching in the hula traditions of Halau ʻO Haʻaleleʻa and Na Wai ʻIwi Ola. Her apprentice is Tia ‘Ohi’a Lehua Kumakua ‘Ahihi McLean, born and raised in Maui. She began her schooling in Hula at age five, reignited her passion for it as an adult, and began learning from Kuma Hula Andrea in 2010. Please join us to hear Kuma Hula Andrea and her apprentice Tia for their performance and Q&A.

Each Performance will start at 6:00 and last the full hour, with a fifteen-minute Q&A.

Oregon Folklife Network receives $20,000 from the Oregon Arts Commission, Develops Strategic Plan

After years of ups and downs in funding, the Oregon Folklife Network is pleased to announce it has been awarded $20,000 from the Oregon Arts Commission. This grant is designated to assist OFN in reaching its goal of financial stability after significant, campus-wide funding cuts in 2018.

Major revisions to the University of Oregon’s budget model at that time reduced the Oregon Folklife Network’s annual budget by $100,000. This revision was fortunately not based on OFN’s performance. Nevertheless, the drastic reduction in funding meant that OFN had to look elsewhere for support. Despite the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal rescue funds allowed some much-needed, yet temporary stability for the last few years.

With those rescue funds coming to an end, OFN had to make a choice: reduce the scope of its programs and focus more closely on a narrow set of goals, or commit to building back up its annual budget to support a wider range of traditional arts- and culture- based programming for the state of Oregon.

The Oregon Arts Commission, a longtime partner of OFN, granted this $20,000 to help create a strategic financial plan, which will allow OFN to continue offering and refining a variety of cultural events. It has decided to use this grant to hire Kelley Nonprofit Consulting to provide a comprehensive strategic plan. Kelley has a reputation for guiding cultural agencies serving underserved communities. OFN acting director, Emily Hartlerode, is confident that their assistance will be a great benefit: “I feel like we’re in good hands, working with people who are compassionate about the kind of work we do, and conversant with the kinds of funders that support the work that we do.”

This much-needed operational assistance will help OFN achieve its goals for stability, hiring new staff, and supporting existing and new statewide folklife programs. Thank you again to the Oregon Arts Commission and Kelley Nonprofit Consulting.

Written by Jessica Oravetz

2023 Staff updates

We thank these Winter and Spring Graduate Employees for your service and say goodbye to Program Coordinator, Tim Herrera, who moved on to a teaching position at UO’s Department of Anthropology, and Fullbright Fellow, Iryna Stavynska (Ukraine), who spent a full year supporting OFN. Interested in joining the team? Contact us for short-term opportunities, or watch for the Program Coordinator position opening in late summer!

Jessica Oravetz is a first-year M.A. student in Folklore and Public Culture. She earned her B.A. in History and German with a minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies from Western Washington University. She was deeply inspired by her mentors and professors at WWU to pursue teaching and interdisciplinary, humanities-focused studies at the graduate level. Her primary interests lie in asking what it means to live well. She hopes to explore the emotional experience as a part of the human experience, and how people have turned to folklore in order to navigate those waters. Her other interests include dipping chocolate truffles, fostering kittens for the local humane society, and playing the harp. 

Oravetz assisted OFN with coordinating its Culture Fest program, which connects Oregon arts institutions with OFN’s Culture Keepers Roster to lead events. 

Headshot of woman with short curly hair, and glasses. Wearing a white button up shirt and blue tie.Elise O’Brien is a graduate student in Folklore Studies and Landscape Architecture at University of Oregon.  She lives, works and plays in rural Lane County.  Her research is interdisciplinary and flows from the confluence of culture and design. Elise enjoys crossing the rural/urban divide, works with art supply access for the unhoused (might art supplies be considered a basic need?), leads guided meditations to envision design potentialities, and endlessly ponders utopian imaginaries. She asks: “Are there cultural solutions for design issues?” Are there spatial solutions for cultural problems?” Elise is on the local planning committee for American Folklore Society in Portland Nov 1-4, 2023 and also works for the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub. Her future work will be in climate resilience, and she is presently inspired by how folk life acts as resistance to imperial and colonial projects.

Summer staff include Yosser Saidane and CiCi Becker, plus interns Ariel Lutnesky and Cassie Hoglund.

Join the American Folklore Society conference in Portland!

The American Folklore Society invites you to submit a proposal for its 135th Annual Meeting to be held virtually October 11-12, 2023 and in Portland, Oregon, November 1-4. The theme of the conference is Roots, Rootlessness, and Uprooting. The proposal window is March 1-31.

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society will bring hundreds of US and international specialists in folklore and folklife, folk narrative, popular culture, music, material culture, and related fields, to exchange work and ideas and to create and strengthen relationships and networks. Community participants are encouraged and welcomed!

AFS encourages participants, including community activists, allied professionals, and culture workers of all types to explore the full dimensions of their work. Prospective participants may submit proposals for papers, panels, forums, films, and diamond presentations, or propose new presentation formats. It is rare for this gathering to happen in Oregon, so please — JOIN US!

In Memoriam: Pat Courtney Gold (1939-2022)

by Emily West Hartlerode

Amid the busy year-end holidays, OFN received sad news that 2007 National Heritage Fellow, Pat Courtney Gold passed away on July 11, 2022. We delayed our announcement to give space from holiday distractions to let this news to have its own time.

Wasq’u basketmaker and citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Pat Courtney Gold, grew up on her nation’s reservation where the Columbia River basin and high desert region meet in central Oregon. In her youth, she was taken to a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, went on to earn a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Whitman College, and became a professional mathematician and computer specialist.

Pat wears a white linen shirt with pink ascot scarf. In the palm of her left hand, she holds a basket in progress. Her right hand gestures, palm up. Sunlight highlights her hat and shoulders on an outdoor stage.

Pat Courtney Gold presents at OFN’s 2013 Arts in Parks series. Photo, Riki Saltzman.

 

Childhood visits with her mother to museums displaying traditional Wasq’u artwork inspired Pat to study and help revive the full-turn twining technique, unique to her community. The result was a resurgence of Wasq’u “sally bags,” twined root-digging bags with a traditional function for harvesting and storing traditional food. “The baskets were important because those were our containers,” Pat said. “We would catch the salmon, filet them, dry them and sell them as filets or we would pound the filets into a powder salmon-like pemmican. That’s what we traded. So the baskets were constantly being made because when we would trade the salmon we would trade a container and all. I always thought that was an interesting way to keep the skill of making baskets going” (11/11/2021 interview by Wisdom Of the Elders). It’s impossible to overstate the significance of awakening this sleeping tradition, which restores Indigenous wisdom and knowledge, revitalizes cultural form and function, and embodies Indigenous values and pride in ways that have therapeutic impact on intergenerational trauma.

Indigenous woman's hands hold a small, cup-shaped basket of natural brown and black weave.

Pat Courtney Gold presents at OFN’s 2013 Arts in Parks series. Photo, Riki Saltzman

By 1991, Pat was following a new career path dedicated to the preservation of her cultural heritage. She became a participant in Oregon Folklife programming in 1995 during Oregon Historical Society administration by folklorists Carol Spellman and Nancy Nusz. Pat’s work was widely recognized for artistic excellence and merit. She was a 2001 recipient of the Oregon’s Governor’s Art Award; a 2003 honoree of the First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award and their 2004 Cultural Capital Fellow; and the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her the highest honor given to traditional artists, the Heritage Fellowship, in 2007. She accepted numerous speaking and exhibiting opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, nationally (including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian), and internationally (China, New Zealand, Canada, and England). She also helped found the NW Native American Basket Weavers Association.

Two Indigenous hands hold a basket mid-creation with cordage. An amber ring on her right thumb and her left fingers are nestled among the weavers.

Pat Courtney Gold presents at OFN’s 2013 Arts in Parks series. Photo, Riki Saltzman

Like so many of our nation’s finest traditional artists, Pat explored her creative boundaries beyond traditional structures. During Pat’s 2009 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Native Artist Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research (Santa Fe), Pat utilized SAR’s collections to research and gain inspiration for what became her two-dimensional wall hangings. One of these weavings is proudly displayed in the IARC vaults. SAR’s documentary video of Pat’s time in residency provides a heart-warming glimpse of the thoughtful way she explored her culture, her relationship with the land, and her expressive creativity.

Pat has shoulder-length black hair held back by a white, brimmed sunhat, and tinted eyeglasses. She stands in the foreground, circled by four women watching attentively. Hanging in Pat's left hand is a basket in-progress and her right hand points to the strands. Tall evergreen trees tower in the background.

Pat Courtney Gold presents at OFN’s 2013 Arts in Parks series. Photo, Riki Saltzman

 

Pat was engaging audiences through Oregon Folklife Network programming as recently as 2016, and giving interviews as recently as Nov 2021. In her public presentations, Pat married the skills of a trained mathematician and traditional artist, describing baskets as spirals and twining as binary computation. She captivated Indigenous and non-Native audiences alike, weaving left- and right-brain perspectives like cordage. Many have been blessed by Pat’s gifts of time and talents. We celebrate her life and trust that her invaluable impact on culture in what is now Oregon will endure.

Oregon Folklife Network to Receive $45,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Eugene—Oregon Folklife Network is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to receive a Grants for Arts Projects award of $45,000. This grant will support Culture Fest 2023 in Southern Oregon, and support access to decolonization trainings by Live Oaks Consulting. This grant is one of 1,251 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling nearly $28.8 million that were announced by the NEA as part of its first round of fiscal year 2023 grants.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects in communities nationwide,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “Projects such as this one with Oregon Folklife Network strengthen arts and cultural ecosystems, provide equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, and contribute to the health of our communities and our economy.”

“Oregon Folklife Network is thrilled to receive this support,” remarked OFN acting director, Emily West Hartlerode. “NEA funding is critical to our twofold mission—to help communities and Tribes sustain their cultural practices; and to create opportunities for Oregonians to celebrate our state’s many rich cultures.”

Funding will support OFN’s Culture Fest invitational, which awards artist sponsorships to select organizations hiring culture bearers into their public programs. Sponsored organizations also gain access to a toolkit of resources to support their success. NEA funding will improve the toolkit with decolonization trainings to facilitate cross-cultural sensitivity, especially for non-Native people reaching out to hire Indigenous artists. Culture Fest awards are regionally specific, and this year focus on Southern Oregon.

For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

Announcing the 2023 TAAP Award Recipients

We are excited to introduce the 2023 TAAP awardee cohort!

The TAAP program offers folk and traditional master artists and culture keepers a $3,500 stipend to teach their art form to apprentices from their same communities, Tribes, sacred or occupational groups. The stipend supports master artists in sharing their knowledge, skills and expertise with apprentices of great promise who will be empowered to carry on and strengthen Oregon’s living cultural traditions.

Meet the 2023 TAAP Award Recipients:

Sreevidhya Chandramouli

Sreevidhya Chandramouli with the Chandramoulis quartet. All four are seated with their instruments.

Sreevidhya Chandramouli with the Chandramoulis quartet

Sreevidhya is a tenth generation descendent from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. She trained in the traditional gurukulam (living with/near the teacher) setting under her mother Rajeswari Padmanabhan. Sreevidhya has served as artist-in-residence at University of Washington and University of Oregon and briefly served as adjunct faculty at University of Oregon. She has been teaching in the Pacific Northwest for more than three decades preserving the subtle aesthetics and purity of the Karaikudi Vina tradition. She is a founding member of the nonprofit organization Dhvani dedicated to the education, preservation and dissemination of art forms of India.

Apprentice: Nidhi Yadalam

Nidhi Yadalam is an Indian American musician of South-Indian heritage. Through this apprenticeship, she will connect with her cultural traditions through exploring various styles of Carnatic music and other art forms, as well as learning about languages, mythology, and folk narratives. Nidhi has studied under Sreevidhya Chandramouli for five years and they have been working together to further her knowledge on improvisational, lyrical, rhythmic, and emotive elements of Carnatic music. Through the apprenticeship, Nidhi wishes to ultimately be able to assist her teacher in classes, and mentor her juniors. She believes that being part of imparting this art is important to keeping the tradition alive and evolving for generations to come.

Stephanie Craig

Smiling woman with auburn hair, pulled back with bangs holds a string of basketry materials across outstretched hands.

Stephanie Craig proudly displays a cache of natural weaving fibers

Stephanie is of Santiam and Yoncalla Kalapuya, Takelma Rogue River, Cow Creek Umpqua, and Clackamas Chinook descent and a seventh-generation traditional basket weaver, tradition keeper, and ethnobotanist (the traditional harvesting, preparation, and storage of indigenous plants). She comes from a long line of strong traditional women-weavers in her tribe. She grew up around basketry and listened to her great-great-aunties and other tribal elders talk about the old ways. Stephanie learned to weave through the oral traditions of her family when she was young. Her weaving and plant teachings have come from traditional weaving elders and other tribal members from neighboring tribes. Besides her early and informal apprenticeships with elders on the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde reservation, The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Suquamish Indian Tribe, and the Lummi Nation, Craig has studied under three of the most accomplished Tribal basket makers in Oregon – the late Sanda “Sam” Henny of the Grand Ronde Tribe, the late Minerva Soucie of the Burns-Paiute Tribe, the late Pat Courtney Gold (Wasq’u) – and renowned anthropologist Margaret Mathewson. Following the tradition, which encompasses all aspects of basket making, Craig harvests all her own material–beaked and California hazel, sandbar and gray willow, juncus, tule, and cattails–all from traditional sites and other closely guarded gathering spots in the mountains.

Apprentice: Dakota Zimmer

Dakota Zimmer was born in Portland, Oregon. She is an enrolled tribal member of Grand Ronde and descended from Rogue River, Molalla, and Clackamas Tribes. Growing up in Grand Ronde, Dakota has been immersed in tribal culture. In addition to attending pow wows several times a year, Dakota has crafted traditional beaded items throughout the last 20 years. Recently, Dakota has been surrounded by the traditional baskets, materials, and weaving techniques of her ancestors through her employment at her tribe’s museum. This sparked an interest in Dakota to learn more about the traditions of her ancestors. Dakota comes from a line of basket weavers but over time that knowledge of her family was lost. Through her apprenticeship with Stephanie, Dakota can bring this tradition back to her family and community for future generations.

Kumu Hula Andrea Luchese

Andrea Luchese headshot, and she is wearing a crown made of plants

Kumu Hula Andrea Luchese

Andrea is the Kumu Hula (master teacher) for Hālau Hula Ka Pi’o O Ke Ānuenue “the arch of the rainbow,” a Hawaiian cultural dance school she formed in 2007. She has taught hula in her community since 2003, and in 2014 became an ‘uniki (graduated) kumu hula, under Kumu Hula Raylene Haʻaleleʻa Kawaiaeʻa and Kumu Hula Keala Ching, both native Hawaiians, and the hula traditions of Halau ʻO Haʻaleleʻa and Na Wai ʻIwi Ola, respectively. This formal and rigorous training in the protocols and practices of hula granted her the kuleana (responsibility) to steward and perpetuate these lineally-connected traditions. Andrea was also hanai-ed (adopted) into the lineage of Kumu Hula Sybil Ku’uipo Hewett, who remains a significant mentor of kupuna (elder) wisdom to her today. Kumu Andrea also has a Masters of Arts degree in Dance and Spirituality, and is the founder and president of Kapiʻoānuenue, a non-profit cultural arts organization whose mission is to actively participate in the promotion, perpetuation, and preservation of the wisdom and knowledge of the Hawaiian culture and its traditional practices.

Apprentice: Tia ‘Ohi’a Lehua Kumakua ‘Ahihi McLean

Tia was born and raised on the island of Maui. She was named after her beloved tutu (grandmother) the hardworking and humble matriarch of the Pelekai family.  Tia had the honor of learning many cultural and spiritual traditions, both in school (Hawaiian history, language, and ‘ukulele), and at home from her Hawaiian side of the family, who were from Waikapu and Hana, Maui.  Tia began dancing hula at the age of five from Kumu Hula Iola Balubar. In her teen years, she studied with Kumu Hula Robyn Kneubuhl, hula kahiko (ancient style) with Kumu Hula Keali’i Reichel and hula ‘auana (modern style) with Kumu Hula Uluwehi Guerrero. As an adult, Tia reignited her passion for learning and perpetuating the hula tradition when she became a haumana (student) of Kumu Andrea in 2010.  Through weekly classes with Kumu Andrea, workshops with Native practitioners, Hō’ike presentations, and alaka’i (leadership) responsibilities, Tia’s hula knowledge and connection have vastly expanded. Tia has also deepened her ‘ike (knowledge) of hula practices and protocols through being selected by Kumu Andrea to become a ho’opa’a (chanter) to accompany dancers for the hālau (hula school).

Alseny Yansane

Headshot of Alseny Yansane, a Guinean drum artist

Alseny Yansane

Since age seven, Alseny Yansane has been immersed in the musical and dance tradition of his native country, Guinea, West Africa. Alseny trained and performed in many competitions as a dancer, drummer, and acrobat during the dawn of the Republic’s newly won independence from France. Historically, this was a time when art and cultural appreciation and cultivation were at an all-time high and artist training was rigorous and systematic. Artists had to compete on a national level annually to move up to higher ranks of artistic status. These competitions were held in the heart of Alseny’s neighborhood and attracted groups from all over Guinea who represented the art and culture specific to various regions and ethnic groups.

This has given Alseny a wealth of knowledge about the history and cultural diversity behind Guinean performance arts, a solid artistic foundation, and a strong drive for excellence. Alseny has worked with some of Guinea’s most reputable performance groups, including Kemoko Sano’s Ballet Merveilles and Jean Macuely’s Ballet Sanke. In 1993, Alseny was recruited to join the most prestigious of all national groups, the world-renowned Ballet Africains. Chosen to tour with them several times, Alseny has dazzled audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and Morocco.

Apprentice: Mamadouba ‘Papa’ Yansane

Mamadouba ‘Papa’ Yansane is an emerging traditional Guinean drummer who comes from a line of extraordinary artists and performers. Born in Guinea, he has taken part of folkloric events and cultural ceremonies for as long as he can remember and began music in early childhood. Papa has long been praised for his exceptional musical talent which he has been practicing with his father, Alseny Yansane, for the past eight years in Eugene, Oregon. Papa and Alseny have been performing on stage and co-teaching classes and workshops. Since 2020, Papa has been working with his father on the tradition of building and tuning drumheads. He now wishes to take this experience a step further by learning the art of heading a djembe and building dunduns.

José Antonio Huerta

José Antonio Huerta performing Mexican Charrería, the image shows Antonio making a lasso

José Antonio Huerta

Jose Antonio Huerta performs traditional charrería, a skill of horsemanship, cattle work, and a sophisticated rope work that dates back to the 1500s. Huerta showcases his work at local community gatherings. Antonio Huerta grew up in a rural village in Jalisco, Mexico. His family made a living farming. They raised cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs, and chickens and he was tasked with the cattle and the horse work. As a result, he developed a passion for charrería. His father and grandparents were excellent horsemen and talented in the use of the rope and always strived to pass on those talents to him. Antonio has now been performing charrería for over 19 years.

Apprentice: Miguel Ruiz Topete, Jr.

Miguel Ruiz Topete, Jr. is a young charro who grew up in Corvallis, Oregon in a family that does farming work. His father has always trained horses and that allowed him to develop an interest in riding, roping, and doing cattle work. Over the years, he has participated, alongside his father, in cultural events such as parades, private parties, and community events where they would perform horse riding and roping. For the past 8 years, they have collaborated with Antonio Huerta who has spearheaded events in the Eugene/Springfield and surrounding areas highlighting the charrería tradition. These experiences have allowed Miguel to find a great sense of community through those activities. Miguel would like to improve his roping skills through an apprenticeship with Antonio. He deeply identifies with the charrería tradition and everything it represents.

This program is funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Oregon Arts Commission.  OFN is administered by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH) and is supported in part by the Oregon Historical Society, the Oregon Cultural Trust, and the University of Oregon Librairies.

Eight Year Oregon Folklife Survey Complete

By Riki Saltzman, Folklore Specialist and retired Executive Director

When I started at OFN in the spring of 2012, I didn’t know much about Oregon, and I found that there hadn’t been a lot of recent fieldwork to identify and document folk and traditional artists. Under OFN’s then program manager, Emily Hartlerode (acting director), OFN had a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, which lent itself to documenting the master artist culture keepers who were entrusted with passing their cultural traditions to apprentices. And there was some collaborative work with Oregon’s Tribes in process. These were both great ways to document at least some of our state’s traditional knowledge and skills. But OFN needed to get to some deeper and more community-based work to fulfill its role as the state’s designated folk & traditional arts program.

Knute Nemeth an old white man with a grey beard, purple plaid shirt, and tan baseball cap.

Knute Nemeth, commercial fisherman and marine storyteller. Photo, Douglas Manger

OFN’s operational partners—the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Cultural Trust, Historical Society, Oregon State Library, Humanities Oregon, and the Oregon Heritage Commission—agreed that starting a comprehensive, years’ long statewide folklife survey was the way to go. I’d learned in my nearly 18 years as Iowa’s state folklorist and in public folklore positions in several east coasts and southern states that research should drive public programs. Bess Lomax Hawes, the long-time director of the NEA’s Folk & Traditional Arts Program, always emphasized that there was no substitute for fieldwork. Getting out there to talk to communities—from those who have been here since time immemorial to those whose ancestors had come in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the newest of twenty-first-century immigrants—was the best way to learn who the culture keepers were and what their and their communities’ needs might be. Chris D’Arcy, then ED for the OAC and the OCT, recommended that we start with the most underserved and undocumented counties in southern and eastern Oregon: Klamath, Lake, Harney, and Malheur. We talked to folks in the Klamath Tribes and the Burns Paiute Tribe as well as county cultural commissions, historical societies, and local arts organizations. And we looked at census data to determine the cultural background of residents, their occupations, and the local natural resources likely to result in particular kinds of folklife. We also consulted the records of the former Oregon Folklife Program, now digitized at UO SCUA. And then we applied for NEA funding to hire independent folklorists to identify and document those traditional artists who would drive our programming.

Jardin Kazaar is a black man with black glasses and a small white beard on his chin. He is playing on the conga drums.

Jardin Kazaar (African American chef, nurse, storyteller, and musician) plays conga drums. Photo, Douglas Manger

Between 2013 through 2022, we’ve documented well over 400 tradition keepers. The many folklorists we’ve hired over the years (LuAnne Kozma, Douglas Manger, Joe O’Connell, Debbie Fant, Nancy Nusz, Makaela Kroin, Alina Mansfield, Amy Howard, Thomas Grant Richardson) have introduced us to so many incredible Oregon artists, many of whom have taken part in TAAP and public programs in their own communities and Tribes as well as in Salem, Bend, Ontario, and elsewhere. Over half of those interviewed have become part of the Culture Keepers Roster, which enables libraries, arts and cultural organizations, museums, festivals, and schools to access and hire some of the over 250 culture keepers for their programs. OFN’s Culture Fest Partnerships provide yet another way to promote Oregon’s diverse traditional cultures and provides funded partnerships with cultural organizations and Tribes to feature rostered artists—from cooks, saddle makers, quilters, Native basket makers and bead workers, to coopers, Persian storytellers, folklórico dancers, fisherpoets, and more—for public programs.

White hands of a man weaving straw into a basket

Storyteller, Andrew “Drew” Viles (Siletz), weaves baskets and gayu (baby baskets). Photo, Douglas Manger

OFN’s mission also includes educating the next generation of folklorists for which we partner with UO’s Folklife and Public Culture program. One of my great joys has been taking students on fieldtrips with our independent folklorists who provide mentorship in best documentation practices. Students have listened to hair-raising accounts from Columbia River Bar pilots (one of the most dangerous jobs in the world) and learned how to ty flies from anglers, how quilters select fabrics, and how sheep farmers also shear, clean, card, weave, and knit the wool from their own animals. They’ve also experienced witching for water, bidding for pies at a community fund raiser, documented rodeo and cemetery stone carvers, and so much more. Our independent folklorists have been incredibly generous with their knowledge as they introduce emerging folklorists to a vast array of Oregon culture keepers.

Lisa J. Taylor is an old white woman with glasses and grey shoulder length hair sitting in front of her sewing machine.

Lisa J. Taylor is a machine quilter. Photo, Douglas Manger

And then life changed with the pandemic. For the past two years, OFN, like so many organizations, has had to pivot to virtual activities. And I’ve ended up being the one to document culture keepers on Oregon’s south coast (FY21) and this year (FY22) in southern Oregon’s Douglas, Josephine, and Jackson counties and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. Virtual fieldwork starts the same way as in-person—with the demographic data and with press releases, emails, and phone calls. But it also does not include in-person visits, which limits photo documentation as well as long conversations. And not everyone has access to a strong enough signal to make a zoom interview possible. Despite drawbacks, there have been high notes, and I’ve been thrilled to be able to conduct several interviews this past year with quilters and fishing guides as well as a Hawai’ian hula kumu (teacher), ballet folklorico director, basket weaver from the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, stone wall builder, and a Kalapuya drummer, artist, and storyteller. While this kind of fieldwork is not the same as in-person, and I don’t get to drive all over this beautiful state, I do have the opportunity to learn about traditional Mexican musical instruments from a mariachi band leader in Talent and the holistic approach of a vaccaro-style rawhide braider and saddle maker outside of Roseburg. And on days when I’m dragging, there is always the uplifting feeling that I experience when those I’ve been talking to thank me for listening.

bagels on a cooling rack with a small bowl of butter above

Homemade bagels by Stacy Rose, culture keeper of traditional  Israeli foodways and folk dance. Photo, Douglas Manger

 

violin in a hard case sitting on a chair with a guitar in a stand next to the chair.

Instruments of Bob Shaffar, old time, blue grass, and western swing fiddle player and fiddle repairman. Photo, Douglas Manger

I always end an interview by asking people why they do what they do. It’s never about the money; instead, it comes down to their passion for their traditions and cultural heritage, about how they have to do what they do. Whether I’m talking to a steelhead fly-tier and one-time Umpqua River fishing guide, a seamstress who designs and sews both folklórico and quinceañera dresses, a Siletz baby carrier weaver, or an old time musician–it’s always an honor to hear their stories and learn how they continue to keep their cultural heritage alive, which sustains not only the individuals but also their communities and Tribes.

Gratitude To TAAP 2022-2023 Applicants

The call for applications for this year’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program has closed on October 31st and we are happy to announce that we have received nine applications. We are very delighted to have a geographically and culturally rich cohort of candidates this year. It is always a delight to be able to assist Oregon culture bearers with sharing their narratives and highlighting their traditions. 

The program will offer four folk and traditional master artists and culture keepers a $3,500 stipend to teach their art form to apprentices from their same communities, Tribes, sacred or occupational groups. The stipend supports master artists in sharing their knowledge, skills, and expertise with apprentices of great promise, empowering them to carry on and strengthen Oregon’s living cultural traditions. Artists may make public presentations through the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon. 

We look forward to announcing our 2023 TAAP awardees and to supporting and celebrating the work they do in transmitting and representing their craft and cultural traditions.  

Oregon Folklife Network encourages Oregonians practicing cultural traditions emerging from their heritage or Tribes to start considering taking part in our future TAAP cycle.  

To learn more about application procedures and eligibility or to recommend a TAAP applicant, visit mnch.uoregon.edu/OFN-Programs, email ofn@uoregon.edu, or call 541-346-3820. Oregon Folklife Network staff members are available to provide application advice, recommendations and feedback and will direct you to resources to help you with the application process prior to submission.