Rooted, Practiced, Sustained
News and Announcements
July 27, 2026
“I Hook Stories”
by Christina Edholm Christina Edholm is one of three artists featured in the Missouri Folk Arts Program 2026 exhibit “Folk Arts in Bloom,” a showcase of three hooked rugs by artists from three different regions bringing their knowledge and innovations to the tradition. In the exhibit case, her vibrant rug is visible in the lower right corner of the case. In her own words below, Edholm explains what drew her to the “Dawn’s Daisies” rug pattern during a workshop taught by Katie Hartner of Tyler, Tx. Read more and check out images of patterns she created grounded in her…
July 9, 2026
2026 Apprenticeship Highlights
Missouri is home to one of the oldest, continuous statewide folk arts apprenticeship programs in the U.S., funded since inception by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Missouri Arts Council with support from the Museum of Art & Archaeology at the University of Missouri. In its inaugural year, the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) featured old-time, gospel, blues, and jazz. Soon, the project grew to include objects made by hand. Over forty years later, over one-thousand individual artists in every corner of the state––rural, suburban, and urban centers—have served as mentors and apprentices. Some, like 2026 artists–fiddler Thomas Coriell,…
June 28, 2026
Dawn’s Daisies–Folk Arts in Bloom
Welcome back to Stories from the Field and a new Show Me Folk News post by a guest author. Show Me Folk News is dedicated space for staff, student workers, traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essay on an array of Missouri folk and traditional arts topics. Guest blogger Elinor Barrett is a longtime mid-Missouri rug hooker, owner of Wool & Cotton, no. 219–a purveyor of traditional textile materials and tools–and a popular teacher in the tradition. From Barrett, Missouri Folk Arts learned the poignant backstory of one pattern…