Master Artists/Master Teachers
Master Artists, Master Teachers: The Most Prolific Participants in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
In this online exhibition, the Missouri Folk Arts Program celebrates the traditional master artists who have participated 5 or more times in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.
Since 1984, the Missouri Folk Arts Program has fostered hundreds of apprenticeships between master traditional artists and their apprentices. More than five hundred individual traditional artists, many in underserved rural, inner city, and ethnic communities in every corner of the state, have participated in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.
As of 2012, nineteen traditional artists had participated five or more times in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. This exhibit honors those master artists who have worked tirelessly to pass their art form to their apprentices, their communities, and the state of Missouri.
Online exhibition curated by student workers Darcy Holtgrave and Claire Schmidt
James Price
b. 1944 Naylor, Missouri Wood Joinery Dr. James Price grew up watching his father make ax handles, gun ramrods, sassafras boat paddles, cedar turkey calls and furniture. Dr. Price wrote in 1985, “Woodworking was important…
Cliff Bryan
b. 1927 West Plains, Missouri Ozark Old Time Short-Bow Fiddling Apprentices: 2000 Don Buedel 2001 Amanda Case 2003 Jessica Collins 2005 Rachel Reynolds 2007 Rachel Reynolds 2014 Virginia Harden 2016 Joel Hinds Cliff Bryan…
Cecil Murray
Cecil Murray is a self-described “river rat.” Born and raised in Doniphan, Missouri near the Current River, Mr. Murray has been involved in the building of johnboats and the carving of johnboat guide paddles since…
Johnny Ray Bruce
Johnny Ray Bruce was born April 28, 1939 and as an adult lived about a mile outside of the small town of Bosworth, Missouri, in Carroll County. He made a living as a “dirt farmer”…
Martin J. Bergin
In his 1986 application to the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Martin Bergin wrote, “The highest honor I have received or could ever receive is the acceptance and recognition of my saddles by my peers and…