Dec. 19, 2017
Claire Schmidt: Niche Agriculture
Welcome back once again to Stories from the Field and a new post in our Show-Me Folk blog. The blog is our dedicated space for staff, student workers, traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essays on an array of topics in Missouri’s traditional arts and folklife. Our latest blogger is Claire Schmidt, PhD, an assistant professor of English at Missouri Valley College in Marshall since 2013. Professor Schmidt teaches a variety of courses in the English Department and advises students in the Honors Program. Not only has Schmidt recently published her first scholarly book, she worked…
Nov. 28, 2017
Then & Now: Gladys Caines Coggswell
We’re happy to launch our third Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys video! Visit our Missouri Folk Arts Program YouTube channel to watch. In May 2017 at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, Missouri Folk Arts Program director Lisa L. Higgins interviewed Dr. Gladys Caines Coggswell, another previous apprentice who ultimately became a master artist in Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Dr. Coggswell was first an apprentice to the late St. Louis jazz and blues vocalist Mae Wheeler in 1998. Later, Coggswell went on to lead storytelling apprenticeships seven times. Our thanks to the…
Oct. 31, 2017
Tribute to Jennie Cummings
We were so incredibly sad to hear the news that our friend and colleague Jennie Cummings, founding director of the Mountain View Cowboy Poetry Gathering, died October 29. The obituary posted below hits on her many accomplishments, including being the matriarch to her family. photo courtesy of funeral home Lisa Higgins wrote a letter of support for Jennie’s nomination for the Missouri Arts Council‘s 2015 Leadership in the Arts Award. Here’s an excerpt: “When one thinks of the Leadership in the Arts Award, it might seem unusual to put Cummings in the same company…
Oct. 30, 2017
Mary Peura: Liver Dumplings
Welcome back to Stories from the Field and a new post in our Show-Me Folk blog. The blog is our dedicated space for staff, student workers, traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essays on an array of topics in Missouri’s traditional arts and folklife. Our latest blogger is Community Scholar Mary Peura of Ste. Genevieve. We at the Missouri Folk Arts Program first met Mary at a Community Scholars Workshop in 2013, hosted by the Ste. Genevieve Welcome Center and organized by local liaison Lisa Palmer with University of Missouri Extension (at that time).
Oct. 25, 2017
Then & Now: Mike Massey
We’re happy to launch our second Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys video at the Missouri Folk Arts Program YouTube channel, where we are posting occasional videos from the field. In November 2016, Jackson Medel filmed Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys with master saddlemaker and leather carver Mike Massey, who was interviewed by our Folk Arts Specialist Debbie Bailey at Mizzou North in Columbia, Mo. Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AANsQnri9g Before the annual Smithsonian Museum Day, Bailey took time to interview Mr. Massey about his experiences as an apprentice with Martin Bergin. Massey also tells about his…
Oct. 3, 2017
Ozarks Alive: H.K. Silvey
When fiddler H.K. Silvey was a boy in rural Ozark County, a down-the-road town seemed nearly as far away as the moon. Enjoy this blog post and photos from Kaitlynn McConnell’s Ozarks Alive. You’ll learn not only how H.K. Silvey came to be such a fine fiddler but how he made a living in the aerospace industry before returning home to Theodosia: http://www.ozarksalive.com/h-k-silvey-ozarks-fiddler-made-moon/…
Sep. 29, 2017
Missouri Life: Martin Bergin
“I get as much satisfaction from the last saddle I made as from the first saddle I put together,” he says. “When the day comes when that’s not the case, I’ll shut down my shop, pack up my dog, and go ’possum hunting.” A feature story and photographs by Eddie O’Neill about master saddlemaker and cowboy poet Martin Bergin for Missouri Life Magazine. Read the full story here: http://www.missourilife.com/life/art/martin-bergin/
Sep. 18, 2017
Then & Now: Loretta Washington
We’re happy to announce that we’ve launched a Missouri Folk Arts Program YouTube channel, one where we will post occasional videos from the field. In May 2016, Jackson Medel filmed Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys with storyteller Loretta Washington at The Stage at KDHX in St. Louis, Mo. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFkWomr7IA During the annual St. Louis Storytelling Festival, MFAP director Lisa Higgins interviewed Ms. Washington about her experiences as an apprentice of Gladys Caines Coggswell, as well as about Washington’s own experiences when she reached master artist status and led her own apprenticeships. We hope you…
Sep. 8, 2017
Marideth Sisco: Thomasville
Welcome back to Stories from the Field and a new post in our Show-Me Folk blog. The blog is our dedicated space for staff, student workers, traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essays on an array of topics in Missouri’s traditional arts and folklife. Our latest blogger is Marideth Sisco, for whom many will need no introduction. For those who do, Marideth is a woman of many hats or many talents–or both. She is a singer, a storyteller, a journalist, and often she is all three at once and more. We at the Missouri…
Aug. 29, 2017
Sarah Denton: Local Foodways
Welcome to another installment of Stories from the Field on our Show-Me Folk blog, a space for staff, student workers, traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essays on an array of topics in the folk and traditional arts. Our second guest blogger is Sarah Denton, who lives and works around the Missouri-Arkansas border between West Plains, Mo., and Calico Rock, Ar. We met Sarah at MFAP’s first Community Scholars Regional Workshop in West Plains in November 2010. Sarah has steadfastly participated in the Community Scholars Network since that time, attending every intermediate workshop to date and working…