Category: Apprenticeships

2021 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Mehmet Oztan and Lafayette Dexter, Seed Saving and Related Storytelling

The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers up to a $3,000 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…

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West Virginia Folklife Presents Virtual Apprenticeship Showcase: Old-Time Fiddle & Banjo

Please join us on Thursday, September 23 at noon for a virtual showcase featuring apprenticeship pair in old-time banjo of Central West Virginia, Kim Johnson & Cody Jordan of Kanawha County, and old-time fiddle apprenticeship pair Joe Herrmann & Dakota Karper of Hampshire County. The pairs will perform a concert and host a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public, but attendees should register here.

West Virginia Folklife Presents Virtual Apprenticeship Showcase: Forest Farming

Please join us on Wednesday, September 22 at noon for a virtual apprenticeship showcase featuring forest farmers Ed & Carole Daniels of Randolph County and apprentice Clara Haizlett of Brooke County. The team, who recently completed their 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship year, will present on their apprenticeship cultivating American ginseng and other forest botanicals, and hold a Q&A.

West Virginia Folklife Presents Virtual Apprenticeship Showcase: “Sheep-to-Shawl”- The Art of Raising Sheep & Creating Fiber Arts

Please join us on Thursday, June 17th at noon, for a virtual apprenticeship showcase featuring sheep farmer and textile artist Kathy Evans of Preston County and apprentice Margaret Bruning of Randolph County. The pair, who recently completed their 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship year, will screen a video about their apprenticeship in sheep husbandry and fiber arts and hold a Q&A.

West Virginia Folklife Presents Virtual Apprenticeship Showcase: Traditional Appalachian Herbalism

Please join us on Wednesday, June 9th at noon, for a virtual apprenticeship showcase featuring herbalist Leenie Hobbie of Hampshire County and apprentice Jon Falcone of Hardy County. The pair, who recently completed their 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship year, will screen their slideshow “Traditional Appalachian Herbalism in the Time of COVID,” lead a guided indoor wild herb walk, and hold a Q&A.

2020 Folklife Apprenticeship Feature: Ed Daniels & Clara Haizlett, Agroforestry/ Forest Farming

Ed Daniels of Mill Creek is leading an apprenticeship in agroforestry/forest farming with Clara Haizlett of Wellsburg. A ginseng digger and cultivator since he was young, Daniels and his wife Carole own and operate Shady Grove Farm in Randolph County where they grow ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, cohosh, and industrial hemp, among other plants. Haizlett, who was an intern in The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage’s “American Ginseng: Local Knowledge, Global Roots” project, plans to start a forest farm on her family’s land in Brooke County.