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 Folk Arts Program…
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…
Aug. 18, 2017
Lisa Palmer: Paper Filigree
With its new website and the Show-Me Folk blog, the Missouri Folk Arts Program will publish a number of Stories from the Field. In addition to stories from staff and student workers, we will invite traditional artists, cultural experts, consultants, and community scholars to share photo essays on an array of topics. You may look forward to stories about traditional arts, place stories, and foodways, among others. Our first guest blogger is Lisa Palmer of Ste. Genevieve. MFAP staff met Lisa when she worked with University of Missouri Extension and coordinated the Mississippi River Hills Association–a…
Aug. 16, 2017
Acoustic Guitar: McClurg Jam
A story and photographs by Karen Peterson about Missouri’s McClurg Jam for Acoustic Guitar, featuring Missouri old-time guitarist Alvie Dooms, guitarist/community scholar Gordon McCann, and fiddler David Scrivner. Dooms has been jamming at McClurg since its beginnings. “If I’m able to hold my head up, I go,” he quips. http://acousticguitar.com/inside-the-mcclurg-jam-the-heart-of-the-deep-ozarks-sound/…
Aug. 14, 2017
Tribute to John White
With a heavy heart, we share that old-time North Missouri fiddler John T. White of Hallsville died on Saturday, August 12, 2017. Born in Ethel, Mo., in Macon County, John White told our Folk Arts Specialist Deborah Bailey that he first learned fiddle from his family; his mother, father, and grandfather were all accomplished fiddlers. In 2004, John said: “Most of my early experience was in Shelby, Macon, and Monroe counties playing for square dances. I have played in barn lofts, on flatbed trucks parked on the street, in school houses, at fair grounds, in churches, and community centers to…
Aug. 8, 2017
News Tribune: Tappel’s Patriotic Quilt
Patriotic quilt could fetch premium price at picnic MFAP friend and master quilter Patti Tappel of Osage Bluff, Mo. paper pieced the patriotic American Spirit quilt (over 2,500 pieces), and the ladies at her church quilted it for the annual church fundraiser. We hear the quilt raised $5,000 at the annual church picnic and auction! Photo courtesy of artist…