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…
Sep. 30, 2020
Tribute to Martin Bergin
We are saddened to learn that cowboy poet and master saddlemaker Martin J. Bergin, of Overland, Mo., passed away on September 24, 2020. His funeral services are scheduled for Thursday, October 1, 2020, with Ortmann’s Funeral Home in Overland (obituary link follows this tribute). Mr. Bergin was a longtime participant in projects of Missouri Folk Arts and its predecessors the Missouri Friends of the Folk Arts and the Missouri Cultural Heritage Center. Through Missouri Friends of the Folk Arts, Bergin often took to the stage or demonstrated at the Frontier Folklife Festival,…
Sep. 12, 2020
Tribute to Sarah Blevins Denton
Sarah Ann Blevins Denton, 1956-2020 Two weeks ago, we were shocked and so sad to learn that our friend, Ozark regional community scholar Sarah Denton, died unexpectedly from a heart attack on her morning walk near her home in scenic Calico Rock, Arkansas. When we first met Sarah, she lived in West Plains, Missouri, the location of our 2010 community scholar workshop that started on Veterans Day. We quickly learned that she was a great photographer, with an incredible eye for portraits, landscapes, and seeing beauty in the ordinary. Anyone who followed…
July 2, 2020
2020 Apprenticeship Team, Price & Eikerman
It is with great pleasure that we continue with the roll out profiles of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) teams of master artists and apprentices. Stay tuned; we have a few more profiles to come. [Be sure to click on hyperlinks for more of the story.] James Price & Steve Eikerman: Ozark Woodworking James E. Price, PhD (Naylor, Mo.) is no stranger to the Missouri Folk Arts Program and its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP). He taught his first apprentice Nick Heatherly in 1986, the project’s second year, followed closely by…
June 26, 2020
2020 Apprenticeship Team, Kasthuri & Kasthuri
It is with great pleasure that we continue with the roll out profiles of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) teams of master artists and apprentices. Stay tuned for several updates in the next several days. [Be sure to click on hyperlinks for more of the story.] Prasanna Kasthuri and Samanvita Kasthuri, Bharatanatyam and Kathak Dance The Kasthuris join a special cadre of TAAP artists–teams who have dedicated time and space to intensively teach and study a tradition that is vital to their families. Guru Prasanna Kasthuri is well-known in St. Louis,…
June 22, 2020
2020 Apprenticeship Team, Williams & Mackey
It is with great pleasure that we continue with the roll out profiles of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) teams of master artists and apprentices. Stay tuned for several updates in the next several days. [Be sure to click on hyperlinks for more of the story.] John P. Williams & Cynthia Mackey, Old-Time Fiddling John P. Williams (Madison, Mo.) is another Then & Now: Apprentice Journeys featured artist. In 2017, Missouri Folk Arts recorded his story of apprenticing with the late, great Boone County fiddler…
June 17, 2020
2020 Apprenticeship Team, Washington & Chandler
It is with great pleasure that we continue with the roll out profiles of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) teams of master artists and apprentices. Stay tuned for several updates in the next several days. [Be sure to click on hyperlinks for more of the story.] Loretta Washington & Brianna Chandler African American Generational Storytelling Anyone who follows the Missouri Folk Arts Program and its Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program should be familiar with master storyteller Loretta Washington (Florissant, Mo.), a 2003 apprentice to Dr.
April 29, 2020
Old-time Music & Quarantunes
We at MO Arts continue to use the Show Me Folk blog, in these unusual times, to shine a bit more light on Missouri’s folk and traditional artists, particularly those who have had shifted their focus a bit, or a lot, due to the world’s collective efforts to “flatten the curve.” We are often reminded that folk arts and folklife are not static, but dynamic and innovative. Tradition bearers prove that time and time again, especially in adversity. With these posts, we hope our readers find the time to visit the social media of featured artists. Perhaps, readers will be…
April 9, 2020
Mask Makers of Missouri
We at MO Folk Arts are using the Show Me Folk blog, in these unusual times, to shine a bit more light on the state’s folk and traditional artists, particularly those who have had shifted their focus a bit, or a lot, due to the world’s collective efforts to “flatten the curve.” We are often reminded that folk arts and folklife are not static, but dynamic and innovative. Tradition bearers prove that time and time again, especially in adversity. With these posts, we hope our readers find the time to visit the websites and social media of featured artists. Perhaps,…
March 29, 2020
2020 Apprenticeship Team, Alexander & Dickson
It is with great pleasure that we roll out profiles of the 2020 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP) teams of master artists and apprentices. Our regular Show Me Folk blog readers should recognize both members of this team from posts in 2019. [Be sure to click on hyperlinks for more of the story.] Bob Alexander & Matt Dickson, Blacksmithing TAAP apprentice Matt Dickson (left) and master blacksmith Bob Alexander pose on a bench outside Alexander’s Scrub Oak Forge during a site visit in early March 2020. They are displaying hand-forged lamps and chandeliers. Photo credit: Deborah A. Bailey…