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.
Janet Komoto stands outside with her arms outstretched and plays a taiko drum. She wears a red, white, and blue robe.
Janet Komoto
Taiko Drumming
Janet Komoto (Ontario) is a Taiko drummer who started performing and teaching this Japanese percussion tradition in 2000. Many of her students are 4th and 5th generation Japanese-Americans.
Janie Tippett stands in a grassy field and rests her hands on a young brown cow. She wears a light green and white striped shirt and beige pants.
Janie Tippett
Writing, Cattle Ranching, and Foodways
Janie Tippett (Joseph) is a rancher, cook and community writer who attributes her good health to the traditional foods and food practices of Wallowa County ranchers. She hosts young farm interns and helps run a community food project. From the late 1970s to the early 2000s, Tippett wrote about local ranching traditions in a newspaper column.
Jardin Kaazar playing the conga drums
Jardin Kazaar
African American chef, Nurse, Storyteller, Musician
Jardin Kazaar (Coos Bay) is an African American chef, nurse, storyteller, and musician. His cooking has been inspired by his mother's as well as the French chefs he apprenticed with in NYC and France. A professional nurse, Kazaar loves to care for others, whether by healing them in a health care setting or by feeding them in his restaurant, The Black Market Gourmet.
Jason Jaeger
Three Crosses Ranch and Custom Rawhide Hackamores, Reins, and Horse Hair Hitching
Jason Jaeger (Adel) is a custom rawhide braider and cattle rancher. He cuts his own rawhide strings to braid into reins and hackamores, and he builds his own cores for reatas. Jaeger makes collector quality cowboy gear (including chinks, chaps, reins, and hackamores) for everyday use.
Jason stands in the center of his student-run mariachi group.
Jason Villa
Mariachi Musician
Jason Villa (Eugene) is a first-generation Mexican American who grew up in California. He is a mariachi musician and music teacher, and he plays saxophone, trumpet, and guitarrón.
Jayanthi Raman stands in an expressive dance pose against a white background. She wears a red, green, and gold silk sari and beaded ornamental headwear.
Jayanthi Raman
Bharatha Natyam Classical Indian Dance
Jayanthi Raman (Portland) has been a practitioner, teacher and choreographer of the classical Indian Bharatha Natyam dance for more than 4 decades. Bharatha Natyam has its roots in the 2nd century and is the most revered of classical dance styles in India. A 2015 Oregon Folklife Network Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Master Artist, Raman’s passion lies in teaching dance and continuing the traditions for future generations.
Jean Gordon sits at a dining table with floral embroidery work in front of her. She wears a navy blue fleece jacket over a pink polo shirt.
Jean Gordon
Quilting, Embroidery, and Applique
Jean Gordon (Aloha) is a third-generation quilter and embroiderer. A member of the Westside Quilters Guild and the Metropolitan Patchwork Society, Gordon is well known for the way she incorporates Red Work embroidery into her quilts.
Jeff Manthos stands in his workshop holding a violin. He wears a blue collared shirt and a red apron.
Jeff Manthos
Luthier
Jeff Manthos (Corvallis) is a luthier who builds exacting violins and violas. After attending the Violin Making School of America and apprenticing with in instrument repair with Thomas Metzler, Manthos began making his own instruments in 1991. He says that what makes his instruments unique is in the process—the builder's personality comes through.
Jeff Perin stands in his shop in Sisters, Oregon, and ties a fly. He wears a blue and white plaid collared shirt.
Jeff Perin
Fly Fishing Guiding
Jeff Perin (Sisters) is a fly fishing guide in Deschutes County and on destination trips around the world. Learning from his grandparents, Perin’s uncle introduced him to fly fishing, and he honed his skills as a teenager while working at a fly shop in the Bend area. Today, Perin’s Fly Fishers Place shop in Sisters is a crucial source of knowledge and camaraderie for area fly fishers.
Jefferson Greene stands in front of a house and holds two colorful baskets. He wears a black t-shirt that says "Powwow 2019" and a black hat with a decorated letter "A".
Jefferson Greene
Hand Drums, Canoe Traditions, Beadwork, Basketry, Language
Jefferson Greene (Warm Springs) is a traditional artist and advocate for the Warm Springs native language. Greene began learning Warm Springs traditions as a child from his grandmother, Sasawaipum, who taught him to sing, dance, and tell traditional stories.
A headshot of Jennifer
Jennifer O'Dell
Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indians Beading and Basketry
Jennifer O'Dell (Glendale) is of the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indians Tribe of Southern Oregon. She is a beadwork artist and basket-maker. O’Dell has always had an interest in her culture. Her goal has always been to share knowledge with her tribe and keep her culture alive. O'Dell is a 2023 TAAP Apprentice under Beth'Ann Gipson.
Indoor image of Panaderia Las Cuatas. There is a wooden cabinet and two metal racks full of pastries.
Jesus Vazquez
Mexican Foodways
Jesus Vasquez (Madras) is a master baker. Vasquez learned to be a baker from his grandfather and his father, who owned a bakery for 30 years in North Hollywood. Following the family tradition, Vazquez and his family opened their Mexican bakery, Panaderia Las Cuatas, in 2008.
Joan Blaser plays an accordion in front of a blue backdrop, a music stand, and a keyboard. She wears a traditional black and white lace floral dress.
Joan Blaser
Accordionist
Joan Blaser (Tillamook) is a traditional musician who can light up a dance floor with her accordion playing. Blaser is one of the original members of the Polkatones, a Northwest touring group that Albert Schwend, Jr. founded in 1971. Schwend, a Swiss immigrant, had a dream to start a polka band. Blaser's Swiss ancestors set out on foot from Salem to Tillamook with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their button accordions.
Joe Dabulskis stands indoors against a light brown wall. He wears a black crewneck sweater.
Joe Dabulskis
Taxidermy
Joe Dabulskis (Wasco) is a taxidermist who taught himself the trade as a kid. After earning a taxidermy license in high school Dabulskis went on to teach the subject at Blue Mountain Community College. Dabulski is now passing on to his kids the same hunting, trapping and fishing knowledge that his dad taught him.
Joe Howell sitting at his workshop desk building fishing lures.
Joe Howell
Fly Tyer, Retired Fishing Guide, Fisherman
Joe Howell (Idleyld Park) is a fly tyer, retired fishing guide, and fisherman. He grew up on the Umpqua River and has tied flies since the late-1950s. He ran the Blue Heron fly shop for 30 years and has a vast knowledge about the North Umpqua River as well as steelhead and the flies used to catch them.
Joe Meling sits working on an adorned piece of leather. He wears a blue plaid collared shirt and a white cowboy hat.
Joe Meling
Leather Working and Carving
Joe Meling (Pendleton) is a leather worker and leather carver who has been working with leather since his youth. He work adorns saddles, belts, and boots.
John Garrett stands in the Gorge Fly Shop in Hood River, Oregon, and ties a fly. He wears a gray plaid shirt and a brown baseball cap.
John Garrett
Fly Tying and Fly Fishing
John Garrett (Hood River) has been tying flies since high school in the 1970s. Honing his craft as a full-time river guide since 1992, Garret is able to make a different type of fly for each species of fish. This skill requires in-depth knowledge of each fish’s diet and behavior.
John Krueger sits indoors in front of a metal tool. He wears a pale yellow collared shirt and a gray baseball cap.
John Krueger
Fly Tying and Fly Fishing
John Krueger (Klamath Falls) is a 2nd-generation fly tyer. A member of the Klamath County Fly Casters, he has been making flies and fly fishing for over 25 years. Krueger teaches workshops at the Running Y Ranch and through Time Flies Outfitters.
John Meade and Joe Huff stand outside. One wears a green patterned shirt and the other wears a black shirt.
John Meade and Joe Huff
Old Time Appalachian Music
John Meade and Joe Huff (Albany) play Appalachian old time music. Meade, whose family comes from Appalachia, began playing in high school after he heard renowned old time fiddler, guitarist, and singer Roscoe Holcomb. A friend taught Huff to play his grandfather’s old fiddle and after that life "went from Pink Floyd to Tommy Jarrell overnight." The duo, which has played together since the early 2000s throughout the Willamette Valley, do so at small venues close to home where they sit in the corner, unamplified, and play for hours.
Johnny B. Connolly sits and plays a button box accordion in front of a microphone. He wears a dark blue t-shirt and blue jeans.
Johnny B. Connolly
Irish Music
Johnny B. Connolly (Portland) is an internationally recognized master of the Irish button box accordion. Connolly hails from Dublin, but now lives in Portland, where he often plays in pubs with other local Irish musicians.

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