MU

Missouri Folk Arts Program

University of Missouri

Donate
MENU
  • About Us
    • Our Staff
    • Our Partners
    • Donate
  • Programs
    • Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
    • Folk Arts Grants
    • Legends & Lore
    • Community Scholars Network
    • Student Workers
    • Folk Arts in Education
  • Art Exhibits
    • Master Artists/Master Teachers
    • Work is Art and Art is Work
    • Folk Arts Focus
  • Publications
    • Museum Magazine
    • Essays
  • Show Me Folk
  • Contact

Gigmaker Anthony Martin of Winona, Mo. to demonstrate at 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Anthony Martin, Gigmaker

Winona, Missouri

As a child, Anthony played often near his late grandfather’s workshop, where the elder Martin turned out forged gigs, used for night fishing on Ozark riverways. Anthony mimicked his grandfather’s actions then, but the elder died before he could teach his grandson. Anthony now eagerly apprentices with a master gigmaker, who did learn from the elder Martin in the 1990s.

Older man in cap and overalls and young boy sit on folding chairs outside in black and white photo from the 1990s.

Gigmaker Paul Martin sits with with grandson Anthony outside the workshop in this Nineties photo snapped by Jim McCarty of the Rural Missourian. Courtesy of photographer

Anthony’s grandfather was the late Paul Martin, who taught in Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) in 1996. At his peak, Paul Martin said that he would make two gigs a day for $20 each (later the gigs went for $40 each), totaling over 3,000 in his lifetime. He made gigs to supplement his income, to make something he found aesthetically pleasing, and to sustain the fish gigging tradition that was so dear to him, his family, and his neighbors. 

Paul Martin taught Ray Joe Hastings of Doniphan, Mo. that year in TAAP. As a gig collector and bow fisher, Hastings was more than familiar with Mr. Martin’s craftsmanship, so much so that Hastings eventually convinced the retired gigmaker to teach him. From that mentorship, apprentice Hastings evolved his skills, wrote a book, demonstrated a numerous events, and taught his own TAAP apprentices in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2019, and 2021.

Anthony Martin, Paul’s grandson, was Hastings’ 2021 TAAP apprentice, and Hastings is thrilled not only to have the story come full circle but also with Anthony’s skills and artistry. Hastings thinks so much of Anthony Martin’s abilities and cultural knowledge that the master artist recommended his apprentice to the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival curatorial team to demonstrate on the National Mall as part of The Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region.

Anthony, accompanied by Rebekah (his wife and assistant), will demonstrate daily at the festival, typically from 11:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and occasionally share his family’s traditions from the festival’s narrative stage, June 29 – July 4 and July 6-9, 2023.

For a glimpse into Ray Joe and Anthony’s apprenticeship, check out Episode 7 of My Ozarks documentary series that begins with words of wisdom from Anthony.

These days, as Anthony prepares for the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, he is often joined by his son Riley, who he hopes will continue the tradition into the future. To learn more about the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, read last year’s guidelines here: https://mofolkarts.missouri.edu/traditional-arts-apprenticeship-program/

Boy in tshirt and shorts stands outside next to father in cap and uniform who is holding a four-pronged gig mounted to a long woodenpole.

Anthony Martin (right) and his son Riley pose with a four-prong gig on a pole outside the workshop in Winona, Mo. Photo courtesy of Jim McCarty at Rural Missouri. 

 

Addendum, August 19, 2023: for a new article, Gigmaking Generations, from Rural Missouri by Editor Emeritus Jim McCarty visit the link here below; thanks to Jim for sharing his photos with us.

https://ruralmissouri.org/gigmaking-generations/ 

 

Posted August 14, 2023 by Lisa L. Higgins

                                

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Share this page

Show Me Folk

MISSOURI FOLK ARTS ANNOUNCES 2025 LIVING TRADITIONS FELLOWS!

Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces 2025 Living Traditions Fellows May 12, 2025 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program is excited to announce recipients of the 2025 Missouri Living Traditions Fellowship, an award to…

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...
May 12, 2025 Read More

Missouri Folk Arts Program Awarded a Missouri Humanities Grant for Speakers Series

Missouri Humanities has awarded a $12,550 grant to the Missouri Folk Arts Program to support an event series that shares the meaning and matter of its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), one of the oldest…

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...
Apr 11, 2025 Read More

Missouri Folk Arts, Focus Exhibit 2024-2025

Thanks for visiting to learn more about Missouri Folk Arts and the Focus Exhibit! Missouri Folk Arts is excited to curate a designated display case in our home at the University of Missouri’s Museum of…

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...
Apr 02, 2025 Read More
Missouri Folk Arts Program

Contact Us

573-882-6296 mofolkarts@missouri.edu

Missouri Folk Arts
Museum of Art and Archaeology
520 South 9th Street
Room 1, Ellis Library
Columbia, MO 65211


© 2025 — Curators of the University of Missouri. All rights reserved. DMCA and other copyright information. Privacy policy.

Our Partners

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d