April 27, 2023
Kenny Applebee, Living Traditions Fellow
Kenny Applebee, Mexico, Mo. Old-time Rhythm Guitarist Kenny and Norma Applebee pose with his custom made Living Traditions Sustainer Award. Photo courtesy of Mexico Moose Lodge 1706 Kenny Applebee is widely recognized as a mainstay of old-time music in Missouri. He has “backed” fiddlers on his rhythm guitar for decades at contests, jams, concerts, dances, and the Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp. Applebee picked up the guitar at age 14 and credits a regional flat picker for teaching “all the chords I needed to know.” As an adult, he…
April 23, 2023
Inaugural Living Traditions Fellows
Missouri Folk Arts Program Announces Inaugural Living Traditions Sustainer Fellows April 24, 2023 COLUMBIA, MO – The Missouri Folk Arts Program has chosen the recipients of the inaugural Missouri Living Traditions Sustainer Fellowship, the state’s newest award to recognize the artistic excellence and lifetime achievement of living traditional artists in the Show Me State. The fellowships honor these individuals’ deep-rooted contributions to their art forms and to the vibrant communities in Missouri that the artists support. An independent panel of traditional arts and community specialists selected the honorees from a competitive pool of public…
April 17, 2023
Tribute to Bernard Allen
We’ve learned the sad news yesterday that master luthier Bernard Allen of Naylor, Mo. passed away Sunday, 4/16/2023. Missouri Folk Arts has been honored to work with Mr. Allen many times over the years, first when he apprenticed to Doc James E. Price in 1987 to learn traditional wood joinery. Their friendship started before and continued all these years. Mr. Allen took his joinery skills and applied them to luthiery, crafting fiddles and mandolins. In 2006, he generously contributed his wisdom to our 2007 traveling exhibition “Work is Art and Art is Work,” as one of six featured…
March 16, 2023
Kim Garcia-Artist Profile
“You’re not going to learn something until you’re ready to learn it.” Kim Garcia Over the last few years, Missouri Folk Arts has collaborated with community documentarians to identify traditional arts regionally; document traditions locally; and share Missouri stories more widely. Nathan Lee McAlister visited southwest Missouri and Wyandotte beadworker Kim Garcia on behalf of Missouri Folk Arts and shared an artist profile and photos with us. Our collaboration with Nathan was made possible thanks to funding from Mid-America Arts Alliance with Folk & Traditional Arts…
Dec. 8, 2022
Lee Ann Sours–Artist Profile
“In the beginning I wasn’t thinking about being a fiber artist. I was just thinking about farming.” Lee Ann Sours Over the last few years, Missouri Folk Arts has collaborated with community documentarians to identify traditional arts regionally; document traditions locally; and share Missouri stories more widely. Last year, Nathan Lee McAlister visited southwest Missouri weaver Lee Ann Sours on behalf of Missouri Folk Arts and shared an artist profile and photos with us. Our collaboration with Nathan was made possible thanks to funding…
Sep. 11, 2022
Ste. Genevieve Legends & Lore Marker
Exciting news! Additional Missouri community adds Legends & Lore marker! Ste. Genevieve Tourism Department installed a roadside marker this year that tells the story of an unusual phenomenon related to noted U.S. Senator and physician Lewis F. Linn. The inscription reads: WEEPING TREE A CHERRY TREE KEEPING VIGIL OVER SENATOR LEWIS LINN’S GRAVE WEPT WHEN HIS BODY WAS MOVED IN 1905. HIS…
May 5, 2022
2022 Apprenticeship Team, Tappel & Kirby
2022 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program: Gigmakers Bernard Tappel & John Kirby Missouri Folk Arts staff is happy to sustain the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, especially through the last two years! In the current year of the project, the 37th annual, six teams have worked over the last several months to teach and learn their traditions. Staff has been happy to support the artists with master artist honoraria, travel, and supplies with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Missouri Arts Council, Mizzou’s…
Sep. 27, 2021
Legends & Lore Marker Grants
Missouri’s first Legends & Lore Marker grant has been installed! William G. Pomeroy Foundation awarded a grant to the University of Central Missouri‘s…
June 13, 2021
200 Stories Marideth Sisco
As Missouri Folk Arts staff continues to share 200 stories over the course of 52 weeks in 2021, we occasionally will feature guest portraits composed by community scholars. Previously, we shared a story by Marideth Sisco about the late Jennie Cummings, founder of the Missouri Cowboy Poetry Festival. That story was based on interviews and research that Sisco conducted in 2019. Additionally, our recent post about the Old-time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival was deeply informed by Sisco’s research report. Today, we share something a little different–a self-portrait of one of Missouri’s celebrated storytellers and vocalists. We hope you enjoy author…
May 31, 2021
Ozarks Alive: Springfield Stories
With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and support from the Missouri Arts Council, our state folk arts staff has been thrilled these last four years to establish new relationships and strengthen established relationships via the Show Me Folk initiative. Missouri is such a large and diverse state to explore that we have broken down documentation of traditional artists and arts to more manageable target areas in collaboration with local partners. Show Me Folk gives us the time and resources to dive deeper,…