May 10, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, Kinder & Farrar
Meet Peggy Kinder and her 2019 apprentice Cindy Jarrar, enrolled members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, who reside in Clay County, Missouri. Peggy Kinder and Cindy Jarrar display small applique beadworks at Folk Arts at the Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. Photo by Deborah A. Bailey Since 2011, Peggy Kinder has taught in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program three times helping her apprentices to strengthen their skills and knowledge of applique ribbonwork, shawl fringe tying, and now applique beadwork. Each is a tradition that Kinder observed and began learning at…
April 25, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, McCarty & Dickson
It’s time to roll out another profile of a 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program team. Master blacksmith Pat McCarty (left) and apprentice Matt Dickson (right) work on joinery at McCarty’s Washington Forge. Photo courtesy of Pat McCarty Coal, copper, and steel. These are the basic materials that master blacksmith Pat McCarty and his most recent apprentice Matt Dickson require when they meet for eight hour sessions at Washington Forge. With those materials, Matt practices joinery and hammer control, riveting and fastening, heating and veining. With those materials, techniques,…
April 12, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, Dence & Francis and Remolina
Once again, we are excited to roll out a new profile of a 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program team. Today, we are happy to introduce readers to master Colombian traditional dancer, choreographer, and costume designer Carmen Sofia Dence and and her two apprentices Sophia Francis and Ana Sofia Remolina. The Sofia-triunvirato! Carmen Dence learned to dance as a child in her local barrio (neighborhood) in Barranquilla, Colombia from her mother, her aunt, local elders, and her peers. In her coastal state, the music and dances are imbued with indigenous, Spanish, and African influences. She is proud to share with others the…
March 21, 2019
Columbia Missourian, Story on TAAP
In his home dedicated to his instruments, Bob Cathey prepares to play a tune on his favorite violin in Hallsville. Photo by Madison Parry for the Missourian Columbia Missourian reporter Olivia Garrett interviewed MFAP’s Folk Arts Specialist, as well as two previous Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program participants for the story Statewide program preserves and passes on traditional folk arts. The article was published online, in print in the daily newspaper, and in print and online for the Missourian’s special Boomtown: How to Live your Best Life in Columbia over 50. …
March 21, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, Boylan & McLaughlin
We are excited to continue to roll out profiles of the 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program teams of master artists and apprentices. This week, we introduce readers to master Irish musician Turlach Boylan and and his most recent apprentice Molly McLaughlin. Boylan previously taught an Irish tin whistle apprenticeship in TAAP in 2008. This year, he is working with McLaughlin on traditional Irish flute. A “selfie” snapped by Molly McLaughlin at a February 2019 TAAP lesson at Turlach’s home in Lenexa, KS. Molly travels monthly from her home in KC, MO for lessons. Photo courtesy of Molly McLaughlin Boylan himself…
March 6, 2019
Alive Magazine: Carmen S. Dence
We were excited to see this lovely profile of master Colombian folkloric dancer, seamstress, and choreographer Carmen S. Dence at Alive Magazine. Follow this link to read the entire essay by Amy de la Hunt, which describes Dence’s passion for the traditional dances that she grew up with and that sustain her today: Visionary Awards Honoree Carmen Dence Performs Like Every Day Is Carnaval…
Feb. 22, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, Hastings & Whiteside
It is with great pleasure that we roll out profiles of the 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program teams of master artists and apprentices. This week, we are excited to introduce readers to master Ozarks Riverways gigmaker Ray Joe Hastings and his most recent apprentice Keith Whiteside. Keith Whiteside and Ray Joe Hastings pose in the shop with two-prong gigs. Most of our readers know Ray Joe Hastings of Doniphan; he has participated in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program since 1996, when he himself apprenticed to the late Paul Martin of Bunker. Just last April, MFAP featured Mr. Hastings in a Then…
Feb. 15, 2019
2019 Apprenticeship Team, Premachandra & Kanumury
It is with great pleasure that we roll out profiles of the 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program teams of master artists and apprentices. We are especially delighted to introduce readers to master Bharatanatyam dancer Ashalatha Premachandra (“Asha Prem”) and her apprentice Kareena Kanumury. Asha Prem is no stranger to the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program; she taught two apprentices in TAAP in 1988, the project’s third year (it is now in its 34th year). As a small child in Bangalore, Asha was eager to dance and learn the South Indian tradition, working very closely with her teacher Sunandana for fourteen years.
Jan. 16, 2019
Then & Now: Ray Joe Hastings
Once again, we are happy to launch a Then and Now: Apprentice Journeys video on our YouTube channel! Take a look at an edited video from the live oral history of master gigmaker Ray Joe Hastings of Doniphan, Mo. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKowSlSM81M] Ray Joe Hastings with gig. Photo Credit: Lisa L. Higgins In April 2018, MFAP’s Folk Arts Specialist Deborah A. Bailey had the honor to interview Mr. Hastings at the Community Center in downtown Doniphan, where he shared stories about his 1996…
Oct. 22, 2018
Tribute to Ann Rynearson
It seems these messages come far too often now. We were heartbroken to learn that Dr. Ann Rynearson, who retired in 2009 from International Institute St. Louis, died in late September. Ann Rynearson was influential for many years upon Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. On occasion, she served as a volunteer panelist who reviewed TAAP applications for funding. On several occasions, though, she put her cultural anthropologist hat on, seeing the artistic expressions that newcomers carried with them as they resettled in Missouri; the best of those artists, she encouraged…