A guitar player with a friendly smile, wearing a festive hat and a traditional serape shawl.
Oregon Culture Keepers Roster
About the Oregon Culture Keepers Roster

Search the online Oregon Culture Keepers Roster—an ever-expanding, juried selection of folk and traditional artists—and connect with cultural experts documented through our regional surveys and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Rostered artists and culture keepers can provide educational presentations, hands-on demonstrations, or performances to a variety of audiences. We recommend a fee of at least $250 plus travel expenses unless otherwise noted, for such appearances. We do not serve as a booking agent, so please contact the artists directly.

Search the roster by county or keyword to find

  • highly skilled traditional artists for your classroom,
  • storytellers for your library event,
  • cultural experts for your humanities program,
  • performers for your festival stage, or
  • craft artists for demonstrations.

Check back often—we regularly add new folk and traditional artists!

Apply

Interested in applying to be on the roster?

First, review OFN’s definition of a Culture Keeper:

  • A Culture Keeper is a folk or traditional artist, who actively practices, passes on, and preserves the living cultural traditions of the cultural community to which they belong and is recognized by that community. Folk and traditional arts do not include folk-inspired art, which is produced by individuals and groups who are not part of the cultural community that originally produced/created/developed the art form, even if the quality of the art is excellent.

Second, fill out and send in the application form and all required work samples.

Or contact us at 541-346-3820 | ofn@uoregon.edu for assistance.

Found 285 profiles.
Baba Wagué Diakité sits in front of a mint green wall with two framed pictures. He wears a cream shirt with colorful embroidery.
Baba Wagué Diakité
Malian Storytelling
Baba Wagué Diakité (Portland) is a traditional storyteller and mud cloth maker who grew up in Mali with his grandparents. They recounted fantastical tales of animals and nature that instilled in him a deep love for the oral tradition. Diakité’s mother was also a storyteller and taught her son to make traditional mud-cloth, a Malian practice of dying cotton with fermented mud.
Barbara Nelson sits in the back of a truck playing a guitar. She wears a red shirt, blue bandana, and white cowboy hat.
Barbara Nelson
Western Music and Ranching
Barbara Nelson (Pendleton) is an award winning singer and guitarist versed in a variety of western music. In 2013, the Academy of Western Artists named Nelson "Female Western Singer of the Year" and presented her with the Will Rogers Award.
Basira Sadiqi stands holding a blue embroidered dress. She wearing a gray hijab and a black sweater.
Basira Sadiqi
Afgani Embroidery and Carpet Weaving
Basira Sadiqi (Portland) practices traditional Afghani embroidery and carpet weaving. Sadiqi learned to embroider from her mother; her husband’s female relatives taught her carpet weaving, which she in turn taught her own children during their time in a Pakistani refugee camp.
Becky Tocol sits outside at a wooden table in Christmas Valley, Oregon. She wears an orange tank top and a tan cowboy hat.
Becky Tocol
Horsehair Hitching
Becky Tocol (Christmas Valley) specializes in horsehair hitching. She uses dyed horse hair to make quirts (short whips) and lanyards. Tocol, who grew up in California’s ranch country, tried her hand at hitching on her own and then developed her skill by working with other hitchers.
Bernyce Courtney stands outside and poses with a red, white, and black basket with frogs woven into it. She wears a red, blue, and white coat over a green sweater.
Bernyce Courtney
Wasco Weaving
Bernyce Courtney (Warm Springs) is a weaver of traditional Wasco full-turn twining. Courtney originally learned from a non-native, and now works to revive the art of twining within the Warm Springs Tribe. Courtney was a master artist in the Oregon Folklife Program’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.
Beth Gipson standing next to a man with a beard and beaded necklace.
Beth’Ann Gipson
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians Basket Maker and Teacher, Drummer, Singer
Beth’Ann Gipson (Myrtle Creek) is a basketmaker, drummer, and member of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. She has been making baskets since 2012, when she and others had the opportunity to revitalize their sleeping traditions.
Betty Morris stands outside in front of a tree and holds a red and white winter themed quilt. She wears a pale yellow shirt.
Betty Morris
Quilting
Betty Morris (Lakeview) makes quilts for her family. She makes quilts to celebrate holidays and uses both traditional patterns and contemporary designs in her unique creations. Morris also teaches children to quilt.
Betty Woodward stands outside and holds two water witching rods in Mitchell, Oregon. She wears a green quarter zip jacket with leaves on it.
Betty Woodward
Water Witching
Betty Woodward (Mitchell) is a water witcher who helps her neighbors decide where to drill in the dry, rocky land of Wheeler County. Woodward tried witching after watching another Mitchell resident, Gene Jordan, use a forked willow branch as his witching rod. When she’s not quilting and painting, Woodward witches for friends or acquaintances a few times year.
Bill and Teresa Black stand in their workshop in Plush, Oregon. They wear white collared shirts.
Bill and Teresa Black
Rawhide Braiding
Bill and Teresa Black (Plush) are traditional rawhide braiders who make gear for working cowboys. The couple and their daughter, Montana, work together in their backyard shop and travel to area shows around the area to demonstrate and sell hackamores, riatas, and bosals.
Bill Huston stands in his workshop and adjusts the back of a black saddle. He wears a light gray long sleeved shirt and a light yellow bandana around his neck.
Bill Huston
Saddlemaking
Bill Huston (Baker City) is a saddlemaker who spent his youth working as a horse patroller for the US Forest Service, and took up saddlemaking at age 27. At Bakersfield Saddlery (CA) he learned how to make silver-mounted bridles and later crafted the first silver-mounted saddle ever produced at Hamley’s in Pendleton. He is now known for his radical new treeless saddle designed for the comfort of both the rider and the horse.
Bob Shaffar stands in front of a microphone playing a fiddle. He wears a white long sleeved button up shirt, a tan vest, and a brown cowboy hat. At the top of the image it says "Bob Shaffar" and "Fiddle/Lap Steel."
Bob Shaffar
Old Time, Bluegrass, and Western Swing Fiddle Player; Fiddle Repairman
Bob Shaffar (Bandon) is an old time, blue grass, and western swing fiddle player as well as a fiddle repairman. Shaffar, who is a retired lineman, grew up on Oregon's south coast with parents and grandparents who played old time and country music for community dances and with the local branch of the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Association. Shaffar continues to play, repair, and teach fiddle.
Brad Finley stands in his workshop with his forearm resting on a blue surfboard. He wears a dark gray t-shirt with a white surfing skeleton wearing a sombrero.
Brad Finley
Surfboard Craftsman
Brad Finley (Florence, OR) hand-shapes and glasses surfboards for surfers in Oregon and farther afield. Whether the board shape is a “fish” or an “egg,” Finley builds for the individual surfer, considering body type, surfing style, and local wave tendencies. On a given day, he might field calls about Florence surf conditions or compete in a “surf ride” car show. He especially relishes the shared culture of cold-water surfers on the central Oregon coast.
Brian Krehbiel stands and poses against a wood wall. He wears a gray shirt and a brown straw hat.
Brian Krehbiel
Canoe making, Weaving, Carving, and Demonstrations
Brian Krehbiel (Sheridan), a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, is passionate about preserving and sharing his culture. Krehbiel has spent many years learning from cultural knowledge bearers about carving, gathering and processing traditional materials, weaving, and canoe making.
Brian O'hAirt sitting outside on a rock holding an accordion. The picture is in black and white.
Brian Ó hAirt
Traditional singing in Irish Gaelic
Brian Ó hAirt (Portland) is a master musician, singer, and dancer from the Irish tradition. He is deeply involved in the preservation of Irish cultural practices and especially the Irish Gaelic language. He attended university and was mentored by tradition bearers in Ireland before moving to Oregon to work as a community educator and organizer around cultural practice and language. Since 2006 he has facilitated workshops throughout North America at various cultural gatherings, festivals, summer schools, and weekend Irish Gaelic language intensives.
Brigette stands on a field in her regalia.
Brigette McConville
Columbia River Fisher, Beadwork, & Weaver
Brigette McConville (Warm Springs) is a traditional fisher, basket maker, and moccasin maker. With access to numerous traditional fishing sites Brigette smokes, cooks, and processes fish to sell in her shop on the Warm Springs Reservation. She serves on the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, the first woman to do so, and is the first Native American woman to be on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Historical Society. 
Bryan Ibach sits in front of a wood wall while holding a tan mandolin instrument and wearing a black hat, white striped shirt, and gray pants.
Bryan Ibach
(Coquille) mandolin and ukelele maker, cabinet maker, finish carpenter, musician (mandolin)
Bryan Ibach (Coquille) is a mandolin and ukele maker, cabinet maker, finish carpenter, and plays the mandolin with several groups on Oregon's south coast. Ibach started out in construction, working as a carpenter and eventually doing finish carpentry and cabinet making. Over the years, he also started to play old time music, mostly on guitar and then eventually on mandolin. He applied his cabinet making skills to mandolin building and has built and sold several.
Bryan standing behind basket full of mushrooms, wearing a grey t-shirt that reads "Oregon Brewers Festival"
Bryan Karolsky
Mushroom Harvesting
Bryan Karolsky (Baker City) has been a mushroom buyer for eleven years, a picker for almost fifteen. Though often guarded, the mushroom harvest tradition is steeped in lore.
Callista Howell stands outside the Ft. Dalles Riders Club in front of a white fence. She wears a black sweatshirt over a light gray hooded sweatshirt.
Callista Howell
Rodeo Skills, Rodeo Queen
Callista Howell (Mosier) is a rodeo cowgirl who started riding horses in infancy. She learned rodeo skills from her mother and began to compete in rodeos at age 6. Her earliest events were barrel racing, pole bending, and steer riding. As a teenager, Howell won every one of the three Rodeo queen titles she has entered.
A woman, wearing a red shirt, and a man, wearing a blue shirt, stand in front of a white wall.
Casa de la Cultura Tlanese
Mexican Dance and Cultural Center
Casa de la Cultura Tlanese (Salem) is a family-run cultural organization with a traveling dance troupe. Casa supports the expression of Mexican heritage in the greater Salem area through dance, music, and community cultural events.
Cathy stands outside at her ranch in front of a fence with metal bars. She wears a blue hoodie that says "sage canyon" and a red and white striped scarf.
Cathy Brown
Ranching
Cathy Brown (Grass Valley) learned traditional ranching and wheat farming from her parents in Bakeoven, OR. Brown started passing these skills down to the next generation in 2008 by working with the 4H Ranch Horse Club.

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