Aug. 14, 2023
Missouri quilters in Washington
At the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, we enjoyed meeting Ozarks’ own son Kirk Kramer who resides now in Cottage City, Maryland (originally of Greenfield, Missouri and Miami, Oklahoma). Kirk let us know he wrote the following story for the Greenfield Vedette, now picked up in Springfield’s News-Leader. As the great-grandson of an Arcola quilter (Elizabeth Killingsworth Hargis), Kirk was excited to meet and interview two contemporary Arcola Quilters,…
May 31, 2023
Selvidge Student Honored
Selvidge Middle School in Baldwin, Mo. announced that eighth-grader Shreenidhi Senthilnathan earned recognition for her participation in the 2023 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program with Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, who are pictured below with Folk Arts Specialist Deborah Bailey. https://www.rsdmo.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=31&ModuleInstanceID=99&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=315780&PageID=55 …
May 5, 2023
Mexico Ledger: Kenny Applebee
The Mexico Ledger, the only daily newspaper published in Mexico, Missouri and the surrounding rural area, announced on May 5, 2023, that local resident Kenny Applebee was an inaugural Living Traditions Sustainer Fellow. Kenny Applebee (right) accompanies Boone County old-time fiddler Pete McMahan on a bench on the grounds of the Smithsonian’s 1991 Festival of American Folklife. Photo courtesy Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association…
April 28, 2023
Red Latina Online: Carmen S. Dence
Red Latina St. Louis announced on April 28, 2023, that Colombian folkloric dancer Carmen Sofia Dence was an inaugural 2023 Missouri Living Traditions Sustainer Fellow. The online article (in Spanish) is available at this link: https://www.redlatinastl.com/noticia/missouri/758 Carmen Sofia Dence talks to students in Shelby County, Mo., schools during a weeklong residency in 2008. Photo by Susan Eleuterio…
Aug. 9, 2021
Together for ’21 Fest 2021
Images and Video Links! Together for ’21 Fest, August 6-8, 2021 Missouri Bicentennial Alliance Members It has been our pleasure to join colleagues and organizations across the state as members of the Bicentennial Alliance. Years of discussions and months of planning, with the guidance of Bicentennial Coordinator Michael Sweeney, resulted in a series of four signature events this August 2021, including the Together for ’21 Fest in Columbia. Throughout the weekend of August 6-8, traditional artists from around the state performed and demonstrated at the invitation of Missouri Folk Arts, Missouri…
March 2, 2021
Missouri 2021 Presents
On March 2, 2021, Missouri Folk Arts director Lisa Higgins joined Missouri 2021 Presents’ host Beth Pike on a panel to discuss the Wm. G. Pomeroy Foundation’s Legends & Lore Marker Grant Program. From the State Historical Society of Missouri: Missouri is rich in its history, folklore, and storytelling. The bicentennial year offers a range of opportunities to engage in our state’s history and culture through storytelling with performances, workshops, poetry, book talks, online resources, and more! In this presentation, hear how organizations around the state are preserving the…
Jan. 14, 2021
State of Stories: Missouri Quilting
On January 14, 2021, Missouri Folk Arts director Lisa Higgins joined Missouri 2021 coordinator Michael Sweeney for a State of Stories discussion of quilting in Missouri, hosted by Mark Livengood of The Story Center at the Mid-Continent Public Library. Dr. Lisa Higgins and Dr. Michael Sweeney describe quilting traditions from across the state as well as the state’s Bicentennial quilt. State of Stories is a series of free public programs commemorating the Missouri Bicentennial. Developed…
Oct. 1, 2020
KCUR 89.3: Legends & Lore
KCUR’s Anne Kniggendorf describes how citizens can “put more stories on the map” via Missouri Folk Arts’ partnership with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation’s Legends & Lore Marker Grant Program. Kansas city storyteller and educator Angela J. Williams (center) shares a ghost story from her hometown of Hannibal, Mo. with an audience at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site in St. Louis. Photo credit: Heather Rhodes Johnson…
Feb. 18, 2020
Breathing New Life into Missouri Fiddling
Rachel Krause interviewed oldtime fiddler John P. Williams (Madison) and rhythm guitarist Kenny Applebee for this artist profile and video published online by Oldtime Central in February 2020. “John P. Williams is an oldtime fiddler from Madison, Missouri who grew up deeply entrenched in the tradition of Missouri fiddling. John was a regular attendee of the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp and apprenticed under Pete McMahan in the late 90’s as part of the Missouri Folk Arts Program. He studied under Missouri fiddlers Bob Holt, Vesta Johnson, Dwight Lamb, Taylor McBaine, Fred Stoneking, Johnny Bruce, Herman Johnson,…
Sep. 27, 2019
KCUR 89.3: MO Blacksmiths
KCUR’s Anne Kniggendorf shared stories about blacksmiths Mike McLaughlin and Bernard Tappel, who were featured artists in an exhibition at the Mid-America Arts Alliance and a special “hammer in” demonstration during First Fridays at the Crossroads in KC, Mo. Blacksmith Mike McLaughlin of Lawson, Missouri, bangs out a rain gauge holder at a First Friday event in the Crossroads.courtesy of Mid-America Arts Alliance …