22nd Annual FisherPoets Gathering

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OFN staff also took part in the 22nd annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon on Feb 22-24. Riki Saltzman and 5 of her Public Folklore students volunteered at FPG and interviewed 5 fisherpoets/commercial fishermen. This brings the number of interviews in OFN’s FPG collection up to 40 (2012-2019).

Thanks to UO’s Folklore and Public Culture Program for funding the students’ and OFN’s fieldwork. And special thanks to fisherpoets Elma Burnham, Clem Stark, Buck Meloy, Phil Lansing, and Maggie Bursch as well as UO students Matthew Schroder, Elizabeth Kallenbach, Sarah Geddry, Prince Lambda, and Iris Teeuwen.

OREGON TRADITIONAL ARTS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM (TAAP) – APPLICATIONS DUE APRIL 1st, 2019

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The Oregon Folklife Network (OFN) is now accepting applications for the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) for 2019-20. This cornerstone program offers traditional/folk master artists and culture keepers a $4,000 stipend to teach their art form to apprentices from their own communities—cultural, religious, or occupational groups, or tribes. The stipend supports master artists to pass on their knowledge, skills, and expertise to an apprentice of great promise, who is empowered through these lessons to continue carrying on and strengthening Oregon’s diverse cultural traditions.

We are thrilled to announce the 2018-19 TAAP awardees: traditional Irish singer, Brian Hart of Portland; hip-hop emcee, Michael “Mic” Crenshaw of Portland; traditional saddle-maker, Steve McKay of Burns; West African drummer and dancer, Alseny Yansane of Eugene; Zapotec Weaver, Francisco Bautista-Lopez of Sandy; Classical Bharatha Natyam Indian dancer, Jayanthi Raman of Portland; Indian Carnatic musician, Sreevidhya Chandramouli of Portland; and Cayuse/Nez Perce applique beadworker, Marjorie Kalama of Warm Springs.

Other examples of Oregon’s many traditional/folk arts include McKenzie River Drift Boat building, Southeast Asian dance, Norwegian cooking and baking, Northwest logger poetry, Native American basket weaving, Middle Eastern embroidery, Irish or old time fiddling, African-American gospel singing, rawhide braiding, Iranian storytelling, Andean instrument building, and more.

OFN encourages applications from Oregonians engaged in living cultural traditions emerging from their heritage or tribes. This program does not fund historic re-enactments, DIY revival crafts, or those who practice traditions that are not part of their own cultural heritage or community.   CONTACT US: Please contact us if you interested in applying or know someone that you want to recommend. Visit our website, ofn.uoregon.edu, or contact Latham Wood (ofn@uoregon.edu, 541-346-3820) for more information about your eligibility in the program. APPLICATIONS: TAAP guidelines and the TAAP application can be downloaded at the OFN website. Staff members are available to advise applicants about the application process. If you send us your draft application 2 weeks before the deadline, we can provide helpful feedback before your final submission.

DEADLINE: Applications are due at the OFN office by 5 pm, APRIL 1, 2019. Send your complete application package to Oregon Folklife Network, 242 Knight Library, 6204 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-6204.

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 grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Historical Society, the Oregon Cultural Trust, and the NEA. The Oregon Folklife Network works to increase public investment in cultural traditions and those who practice them.

About Oregon Folklife Network

Oregon Folklife Network (OFN) is administered by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon and is the state’s designated Folk and Traditional Arts Program. OFN is supported in part by grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Historical Society, Oregon Cultural Trust, and National Endowment for the Arts. OFN works to increase public investment in cultural traditions and those who practice them.

About the Museum of Natural and Cultural History

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History enhances knowledge of Earth’s environments and cultures, inspiring stewardship of our collective past, present, and future. With collections representing millions of years and all of Earth’s continents, the museum is a center for international research on topics in natural history and anthropology. Museum exhibitions are open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for youths and seniors, and $10 for families (two adults and up to four youths). Reduced admission is available for visitors presenting Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. Admission is free to members and UO ID card holders. For general information call 541-346-3024.

Media Contact:

Kristin Strommer, Museum of Natural and Cultural History, kstromme@uoregon.edu, 541-346-5083

Links:

Oregon Folklife Network: https://ofn.uoregon.edu/

TAAP Program: https://ofn.uoregon.edu/programs/traditional_arts_apprenticeship_program.php

Museum of Natural and Cultural History: http://natural-history.uoregon.edu

Museum on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oregonnaturalhistory

OFN is now part of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History!

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The Oregon Folklife Network is delighted to announce that we are now officially part of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon. For more than eighty years, the museum has been a center of scholarship, interpretation, and stewardship of Oregon’s cultural life, making it the ideal new home for OFN. We are delighted to become the museum’s newest division and look forward to collaborating with its faculty and staff.

 

Our physical office remains in the Knight Library at the University of Oregon.

OFN at 35th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

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This year’s 35th Annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering once again found poets, musicians, gearmakers, and folklorists in Elko, Nevada celebrating and raising awareness about cowboy culture and the rural experience. OFN Associate Director, Emily West Hartlerode, worked managing and hosting stages as contract staff of the Western Folklife Center, reuniting with colleagues from across the west. Among them are a growing number of UO and OFN alum: Bradford McMullen and Jennie Flinspach (OFN graduate employees), Debbie Fant (OFN contract fieldworker), and Amy Mills (UO Folklore graduate), to name a few. On-stage talent from Oregon included first-time participant, singer-songwriter Forrest Van Tuyl of Enterprise, and long-time participant Ross Knox who now hails from Arizona, but grew up ranching in Central Oregon. Personal highlights were stage managing for Colter Wall, Trinity Seely, and Dave Stamey (backstage photos below), and catching up with community scholar, Andy Hedges, whose interviews with cowboy poets and singer-songwriters you can enjoy on his blog.

There is a feeling of homecoming at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering among artists and staff folklorists alike. Thanks to Doug Blandy, director of UO Folklore and Public Culture Program, for sharing this blog post about the event.

Dave Stamey and Emily West Hartlerode, backstage at NCPG 2019

Colter Wall and Emily West Hartlerode, backstage at NCPG 2019

Trinity Seely and Emily West Hartlerode

 

Oregon Folklife Network awarded $55,000 by the National Endowment for the Arts

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EUGENE, Ore. – (Dec. 28, 2018) – The University of Oregon’s Oregon Folklife Network is set to receive a $55,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Announced as part of the endowment’s $27 million funding package for fiscal year 2019, the Oregon grant will support a folklife survey on Oregon’s north and central coast.

“OFN is so pleased to have another year of NEA support for our documentation of Oregon’s living cultural heritage,” said Riki Saltzman, Oregon Folklife Networks’s executive director.

Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,605 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking and will award 972 grants in this category.

“The arts enhance our communities and our lives, and we look forward to seeing these projects take place throughout the country, giving Americans opportunities to learn, to create, to heal, and to celebrate,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

With support from the grant, the Oregon Folklife Network will work with veteran folklorist Douglas Manger to identify folk and traditional artists in the Northwest and Central Oregon Coast counties of Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln, as well as the coastal sections of Lane and Douglas counties. Manger will also mentor emerging folklorists as they document regional and ethnic folklore from a range of heritage groups including but not limited to Asian and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Latinos, Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and Europeans as well as occupational folklife such as chainsaw carving, hunting, dairy farming, commercial fishing, clamming, oystering, shrimping, and other waterways traditions. Folklorists will also document foodways, music, storytelling, and other relevant folk expressions.

OFN’s statewide survey has so far identified over 355 folk and traditional artists in 28 counties as well as at the Klamath Tribes, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, the Burns Paiute, and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. OFN partners with local and state organizations and Tribes to refer tradition bearers and folk artists for programs in parks, arts organizations, libraries, or festivals. We also preserve this documentation in our archives.

OFN invites recommendations for individuals who should be documented as part of the project. Recommendations can be submitted to by email to Riki Saltzman, riki@uoregon.edu, or Emily West, eafanado@uoregon.edu, or by phone to 541-346-3820.

For more information on the National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

#GivingTuesday

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Dear Oregon Folklife Supporter,

Today is #GivingTuesday—a global day dedicated to giving back to your favorite nonprofits and causes. #GivingTuesdaykicks off the Oregon Folklife Network’s year-end fundraising campaign.

To participate: Make an end-of-the-year tax-deductible gift to the Oregon Folklife Network Fund.  Be a part of OFN’s ongoing story from Culture Fest to our Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Our programs showcase exemplary culture keepers in Oregon’s communities and Tribes.

Your donations enable OFN to

When you give to OFN, remember to make a matching donation to the Oregon Cultural Trust, which will credit its portion back to you as an Oregon state tax credit.  “Donate+Match = Get the Whole Match Back!”

When you donate today you’ll be joining thousands of other Oregonians in a statewide celebration of #GivingTuesday as part of the NonProfit Association of Oregon’s #CareLikeAnOregonian campaign.

 

OFN connects!  From culture keepers in Tribes and communities, to local and statewide programs and agencies, we make Oregon’s traditional arts thrive. To continue this work, we need your help. We hope you’ll be a part of our efforts to nurture Oregon’s diverse cultural heritage.

Thanks so much for your support!

Riki Saltzman, Executive Director
Oregon Folklife Network
http://ofn.uoregon.edu

OFN Staff Updates

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Former Staff Updates

Brad McMullen

It is with great excitement that we announce that Brad McMullen, a recent graduate of the University of Oregon’s Folklore and Arts Administration graduate programs and three-year Graduate Employee at the Oregon Folklife Network, has accepted the position of Programs Manager with the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada.

McMullen’s primary responsibility at the Western Folklife Center will be to organize and manage their premier event, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held annually in Elko (January 28 to February 2, 2019). Located in the historic Pioneer Building in downtown Elko, Nevada, the Western Folklife Center is both a local and a regional nonprofit cultural center whose exhibitions, educational programs, national radio and television programs, research and preservation projects, and cultural events explore and give voice to traditional and dynamic cultures of the American West. Meg Glaser, Western Folklife Center Artistic Director says, “We are so pleased to welcome Brad to our staff. His grounding in folklore, skills in arts administration, interest in folk poetry, and good sense of humor are a great fit for the Programs Manager position and the Western Folklife Center.”

McMullen has a bachelor’s degree in Folklore & Mythology (Harvard University), a master’s degree in Welsh (University of Cardiff), and two master’s degrees in Folklore and Arts Management (University of Oregon). During his time with the Oregon Folklife Network, McMullen conducted fieldwork, managed the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, coordinated public programs, assisted on grants, documented the FisherPoets Gathering, and did extensive community outreach.

McMullen credits the faculty, staff, and students at the Oregon Folklife Network and the University of Oregon for his success. “I couldn’t have asked for a better springboard to a career than the time I spent at the OFN and the University of Oregon. I was incredibly lucky to work with an array of wonderful faculty, staff, contractors, and fellow students to develop the skills I needed to get a fantastic job like this.”

As the Program Manager for the Western Folklife Center, McMullen will oversee year-round programming as well as manage the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The 2019 Gathering is a celebration of the Gathering’s 35th anniversary and has a great line-up of new and classic performers, already posted online. He hopes to see some familiar faces there!

Jennie Flinspach

With much sadness, OFN says farewell to Jennie Flinspach, OFN’s 2018 Summer Folklife Fellow. With a BA in English (Simpson College), Flinspach completed dual Master’s degrees in Folklore and Arts Management (University of Oregon). During her time with OFN, Flinspach helped to launch and later manage the Oregon Culture Keepers’ Roster; she also interned with the 2017 Warm Springs Folklife Fieldschool, which put her years of experience teaching English and Theatre to good use. Flinspach fearlessly braved new software programs that enhanced OFN’s visuals on social media. This past summer she ably coordinated several public programs with artists in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. For her final project, she made it possible for OFN to realize a long-time goal of a full-color, picture-rich annual report. With further experience as an archivist for the Randall V. Mills Archive of Northwest Folklore (where she designed and edited Cooking with Folklore: Recipes from the Archives), Flinspach aided OFN by building robust organizational management systems. Prior to moving to Oregon, Flinspach was a high school English and drama teacher in the Iowa public school system. We are sorry to lose Jennie Flinspach in the OFN office, and eager to see what unfolds in her professional career.

2018-2019 New Staff

OFN welcomes Latham Wood, a doctoral student in cultural anthropology at UO; as OFN’s new Graduate Employee for the academic year, he’ll be coordinating the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Wood’s doctoral research explores the politics of culture in Vanuatu, and focuses specifically on a traditionalist movement on the island of Aneityum that aims to revive an ancestral system of socio-political organization. His interests also include kinship, personhood, and human-environment relationships. Along with his more theoretical work, he has authored three publications and produced numerous films in collaboration with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre—created specifically for indigenous ni-Vanuatu audiences. He is married to a ni-Vanuatu woman, and they have two children.

OFN also welcomes Iris Teeuwen, a first-year master’s student in the Folklore program who is working with OFN as a Graduate Employee for Fall and Winter terms. She earned a B.S. in Anthropology with a minor in Philosophy from Portland State University. Teeuwen is the first member of her family to graduate from college and is looking forward to furthering her education. Her research on holiday myths draws on her Dutch upbringing and considers how Sinterklaasis celebrated in the Netherlands; in doing so, she is focusing on the current debates over the traditional black-faced holiday figure Zwarte Piet(Black Piet). Her work at OFN includes coordinating the newsletter, drafting folk arts award nominations, and logging ethnographic documentation.

OFN is pleased to welcome back Jacob Armas, an undergraduate in International Studies and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, where he focuses on Diplomacy and International Relations in Europe. He is also pursuing a minor in Creative Writing with a focus in poetry. Jacob studied in Prague, Czech Republic in Fall 2017, where he studied how Czech art historians view Czech art history of the 1970s and early 80s; he is currently researching performance art in Central Europe under communist regimes. Armas plans to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in museums. At OFN, Jacob will continue the work he started last winter on the Culture Keepers roster.

OFN welcomes new intern Andrew Ferry, an undergraduate transfer student majoring in Folklore at UO. At OFN, he is updating the operations and communications manuals, analyzing social media practices, and editing videos from the field. Ferry’s main research interests concern how folk belief and folk religion inform folk medicine and healing practices.

Treaty of 1855 Conference, Museum at Warm Springs, Oct 25-27, 2018

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Returning to work after attending the Middle Oregon Treaty of 1855 Conference, I am newly aware that I am returning to America after visiting the Warm Springs Nation. This sovereign nation that pre-existed the establishment of the United States, holds inherent rights to their lands – including access to millions of acres ceded to the US through the Treaty for usual and customary practices like hunting and gathering. These rights are not only acknowledged, but protected by the Treaty, a nation-to-nation agreement with the same legally and ethically binding strength and significance as other international treaties.

 

The original document resides in a climate-controlled vault in the National Archives in Washington DC, however it was temporarily on display at the Museum at Warm Springs through Nov 3, 2018. This unique access to the Treaty paralleled the Museum’s celebration of its 25th Anniversary, and spurred tribal leadership to coordinate the Treaty Conference. Many Native and non-native allies came together to better understand the historical context that established the Treaty; to reflect on the growth and development of tribal governance despite the overwhelming loss of language, cultural practices, lands and people; and to imagine and plan for a future beyond surviving, but one of thriving.

 

Warm Springs Tribal Council member, Valerie Switzler, invited Oregon Folklife Network to interview participants and document their reflections and reactions. Of high importance to her was engaging tribal youth in the process. OFN was honored by the invitation and donated our time in sponsorship of the event. With the help of superintendent Ken Parshall, we reached out to Fieldschool alumni, and Warm Springs sophomores Dylan Heath, Taya Holiday, and Kathryce Danzuka attended on Friday and took leadership roles in running the video camera, asking thoughtful questions, and ensuring that release forms were properly filled and returned. They showed great respect and professionalism, though I was delighted to see them relax into some light-hearted teenager fun after their work was through.

 

Interviews spanned a variety of perspectives, from Native American Rights Fund lawyer (and former UO Duck) Charles Wilkinson, to elder and language teacher Arlita Rhoan. Incoming Executive Director of the Museum at Warm Springs (and former Poet Laureate) Elizabeth Woody, who expertly coordinated this important event, also provided her reflections for this record, all of which is going back to the Tribal Archives. Their thoughts co-mingle with my own reflections as the days between me and the event grow. I yearn for more time to steep in my feelings and better understand and act on my sense of urgency to respond. But I am back in America now. The prayer songs fade in my ears, but for the people of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the 500+ sovereign nations who permit US activities on the land that has been theirs since time immemorial, those songs resound often and strong.

Update from Four Rivers Cultural Center

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Josh Chrysler, Four Rivers Cultural Center Staff Folklorist

from left: Emily West Hartlerode, Bradford McMullen, Josh Chrysler, Riki Saltzman, and Steven Hatcher festival hosting, 4Rivers Cultural Center, June 23, 2018.

 

I had a busy winter and spring as the contract staff folklorist for the Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario, Oregon. Through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, I have been able to continue my work to develop programs celebrating and supporting folklife and traditional culture in eastern Oregon.  This past year, I developed both an exhibit on regional folklife and a day-long folklife festival.

The exhibit, Buckaroo and Ranching Folklife of the Four Rivers Region, features traditional arts and skills associated with buckaroos and the ranching world. Crafts such as silversmithing, rawhide braiding, and saddle making each have qualities specific to this corner of the world. This exhibit was based on my own fieldwork, previous OFN fieldwork, and a smaller Buckaroo exhibit that Adrienne Decker developed during her Summer Folklife Fellowship at OFN. At this writing, the exhibit is on view at the Four Rivers Cultural Center. In the future, Four Rivers plans to travel the exhibit to other local and regional museums, libraries, and schools.

Following the theme of regional culture, I also developed a day-long Tradition Keeper’s Folklife Festival, held Saturday, June 23rdat the Four Rivers Cultural Center. This extremely rural region nourishes an incredible diversity of folklife, which we worked to represent in our programming. The festival brought in many of the buckaroo artists featured in the exhibit to demonstrate their various traditions, which ranged from Western saddle making and Paiute basketry to foodways from Japanese mochi and to Basque paella. Meanwhile, multiple performance areas featured traditional artists and their verbal or musical traditions including cowboy poetry, Mexican dance, Japanese Taiko drumming, and Paiute storytelling. Thanks to these culture keepers, the Four Rivers staff, OFN staff, and folklorist Steven Hatcher of the Idaho Commission on the Arts—

all of whom helped facilitate the event—400-500 visitors interacted with and learned from community members and neighbors who practice traditional arts and skills.

Fortunately, we have secured funding from the NEA to continue this project, and planning for a Tradition Keepers Folklife Festival (Saturday, June 29, 2019) is underway. I am heading back to eastern Oregon to continue fieldwork and to identify additional traditional artists to feature at next year’s Festival. Stay tuned for more information as this project continues to develop!

Oregon artist awarded highest national honor in Folk and Traditional Arts

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by Emily West Hartlerode, OFN associate director

September 26, 2018 marked an important event for OFN and for the state of Oregon, as one of our most talented culture keepers, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, received her National Heritage Fellowship award at our nation’s Capitol. The NEA awarded Abbasi-Ghnaim the highest award the U.S. bestows upon traditional artists for her dedicated practice of Palestinian Embroidery. Beyond being a master of this art form, Abbasi-Ghnaim consistently mentors younger generations, including her own daughters, passing along not only the artistic knowledge but the stories and history behind the patterns, colors, and designs. Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, has received many Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Master artist awards from OFN and the former Oregon Folklife Program at the Oregon Historical Society.

Palestinian embroiderer, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim (middle), received one of only nine 2018 National Heritage Fellowship Awards. From left to right, NEA Chairman, Mary Anne Carter; Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim; NEA Folk & Traditional Arts director, Cliff Murphy.

Abbasi-Ghnaim’s nomination represents a massive OFN team effort coordinated by talented Folklore graduate intern, Hillary Tully, and guided by OFN’s executive director, Riki Saltzman. We acquired letters of support from as far away as Paris and London, and engaged the invaluable assistance of Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim’s daughter Wafa Ghnaim, whose photos and stories of her mother’s work were critical to this effort.

Five women and a girl stand with arms around each other before a formal backdrop with the National Endowment for the Arts logo.

(left to right) Safa, Wafa, Feryal, her sister, Fida and her daughter

Accompanied by her sister, three daughters (one from Germany), and three grandchildren, Abbasi-Ghnaim accepted her medal from NEA Chairman, Mary Anne Carter, and Folk & Traditional Arts director, Cliff Murphy. To watch her heartfelt acceptance speech, click here.

A reception and banquet followed in the ornate Great Hall of the Library of Congress where one of Governor Kate Brown’s staff was in attendance to personally congratulate Abbasi-Ghnaim. Two nights later, the nine awardees took their turns on stage. Abbasi-Ghnaim explained her traditional art, showed examples, and described how Palestinian embroidery employs traditional designs to convey cultural meaning and messages among women.

Letter of congratulations from Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown.

It was an honor to witness Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim share her tradition and thank the American people for valuing the diversity of cultures that make us unique as individuals and bring us together as a rich nation of people from around the world. We are proud of Oregon’s NHF awardee, grateful for the opportunity to nominate her for this recognition and overjoyed by the outpouring of support that rained down upon Abbasi-Ghnaim from so many elected government officials, friends, and family.

Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim’s family celebrating the honor with her.