West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase:

 Old Time Fiddle & Salt Rising Bread

Wednesday, December 12, 5:30-7:30pm

West Virginia Humanities Council Headquarters

Historic MacFarland-Hubbard House

1310 Kanawha Blvd E., Charleston

Please join us on the evening of Wednesday, December 12 for the first Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase, featuring master old-time fiddler Doug Van Gundy with apprentice fiddler Annie Stroud, and master salt rising bread bakers Jenny Bardwell and Susan Brown with apprentice baker Amy Dawson.

The event will be held from 5:30-7:30pm at the historic MacFarland-Hubbard House, headquarters of the West Virginia Humanities Council (1310 Kanawha Blvd. E), in Charleston. The evening will include a musical performance by Van Gundy and Stroud, a salt rising bread short documentary screening and bread tasting by Bardwell, Brown, and Dawson, and a question-answer session. A reception with light refreshments will follow. The event is free and open to the public, but guests should RSVP here or by calling 304.346.8500.

Doug Van Gundy, of Elkins, is an eighth-generation West Virginian who learned old-time fiddle from Greenbrier County fiddler Mose Coffman through the Augusta Heritage Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Annie Stroud, of Charleston, is a Greenbrier County native who began playing violin at an early age, and is now learning old-time fiddle tunes local to her home county.

Jenny Bardwell and Susan Brown, both of Mount Morris, PA, are co-authors of the book Salt Rising Bread: Recipes and Heartfelt Stories of a Nearly Lost Appalachian Tradition and have conducted a decades-long study of the unique, labor-intensive Appalachian bread. Amy Dawson is a native of Lost Creek and the co-owner and farm manager of Lost Creek Farm.

The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers a stipend to West Virginia master traditional artists or tradition bearers working with qualified apprentices on a year-long in-depth apprenticeship in their cultural expression or traditional art form. These apprenticeships aim to facilitate the transmission of techniques and artistry of the forms, as well as their histories and traditions. 2018 is the first year of the biennial Folklife Apprenticeship Program.