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 274 profiles.
Sandra Porter stands outside in front of shelves with potted plants. She is wearing a black shirt with a black apron.
Sandra Porter
Foodways
Sandra Porter (Cloverdale) is a traditional baker known all over the Nestucca Valley for her lip-smacking homemade pies that taste like no other. When the pie sign goes up at the Porter’s farm stand outside of Cloverdale on Highway 101, locals know they have but a short time to make haste. Pumpkin pie is Porter’s own favorite—made with home grown Jarrahdale pumpkins.
Sandra Van Liew sits at a spinning wheel and spins wool with shelves of framed photos and books in the background. She is wearing a purple shirt and blue jeans.
Sandra Van Liew
Knitting, Spinning, Sheep Ranching
Sandra Van Liew (Heppner) is a traditional knitter. She and her husband own the Windy Acres Jacobs Sheep Ranch, where she spins, knits, and markets her own products from her heritage breed sheep.
Sandy Micheli stands outside and holds a wooden stick with a green lizard on it. She wears a blue polo shirt.
Sandy Micheli
Woodcarving
Sandy Micheli (Vale) is a traditional woodcarver. Always on the lookout for a good carving stick, Micheli has a gift for envisioning shapes in wood. Coyotes, snakes, lizards, birds, and other sundry animals come to life in her hands.
Sara Barton stands next to a table with an article of Native American regalia made from leather and decorated with small beadwork. She is wearing a purple shirt, blue jeans, and sunglasses.
Sara Barton
Native American Basketry/Cradleboard-Making/Regalia
Sara Barton (Hines) is a traditional basketmaker who hails from a long line of basketmakers. Though her own ancestry is a mix of Mono Lake Paiute and Yosemite Miwuk, she now assists the Burns Paiute in keeping their basket and cradleboard traditions.
Sara Scott stands next to a white wire rack with crafted rawhide objects. She is wearing a lime shirt and a white hooded sweatshirt.
Sara Scott
Root Digging, Leatherworking, Beadwork
Sara Scott (Warm Springs) is a traditional leather and bead worker as well as a root digger. Scott learned the traditions from her family and continues to practice them. She still digs roots on the south end of the Reservation where her grandmother first taught her to dig.
Sarge and CeCe Glidewell stand together inside a room with cream walls. CeCe is wearing a purple shirt and Sarge is wearing a black striped button-up shirt.
Sarge and CeCe Glidewell
Round and Square Dancing
Sarge and CeCe Glidewell (Klamath Falls) are round and square dance leaders. They teach and call dances for their local club, the Klamath Country Squares. Sarge and other local callers call the dances to music on records, and occasionally to live music, while by CeCe leads a dedicated group of experienced dancers as well as novices.
Secret Bryant stands in her Portland studio, "Southern Styles & Barber," braiding pink extensions. She is wearing a black shirt, a black apron, and a black bonnet with a flower on it.
Secret Bryant
Hair Braiding
Secret Bryant (Portland) is a traditional African American hair stylist and hair braider. Every workday, she braids cornrows, box braids, extensions, and more. She learned hair-braiding techniques at her mother’s knee.
Shannin Stutzman
Kalapuya and Hanis Coos Drummer and Singer, Storyteller, Educator
Shannin Stutzman (Yoncalla), of Hanis Coos and Kalapuya heritage, is a traditional drummer, singer, storyteller, and educator. She performs and demonstrates her cultural traditions in schools and at public events and also coordinates the Indian Education Summer Camp, which her mother, Esther Stutzman, founded in the late 1970s. Stutzman also creates a variety of artwork inspired by her heritage and is enrolled with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz.
Woman holding a fiddle.
Shari Ame
Irish and Appalachian Fiddling Teacher
Shari Ame (Corvallis) is an Irish and Appalachian fiddler, teacher, and contra dance musician. She always wanted to be a fiddler, and started playing violin in the school orchestra at age nine, then started Irish fiddle as a teenager.
Sherry Steele sits outside with grass and bushes in the background and holds a bundle of brown feathers. She wears a white shirt and a light baseball cap.
Sherry Steele
Fly Tying and Fly Fishing
Sherry Steele (Sisters), a traditional fly tyer, teaches for clubs and schools throughout central Oregon. With 13 years of experience, Steele is a board member of the International Federation of Fly Fishers and is passionate about her craft and teaching fly tying and angling skills to others.
Shirod Younker stands next to a large yellow and red painting with a wooden canoe oar. He is wearing a gray vest, a black long-sleeved shirt, dark blue jeans, and a black hat.
Shirod Younker
Canoe Paddle Carving
Shirod Younker, Upper Coquille and Miluk Coos tribes, (Portland) carves canoe paddles that closely follow his ancestors’ traditions. This work inspired his tribe to construct traditional canoes and participate in the annual Tribal Canoe Journey. Younker manages an artists-in-residence program for Native American teens at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts.
Sidney "Sam" Seale stands outdoors with a cloudy sky and hills in the backgrund. He is wearing a blue button-up shirt, blue jeans, and a brown baseball cap.
Sidney "Sam" Seale
Family and Occupational Storytelling
Sidney "Sam" Seale (Condon) owns the "White Elephant Ranch" and shares the stories of his family. As a storyteller, Seale tells the lore of his family's strangely named ranch and ranching in Gilliam County during the Depression.
Skip Bailey & David Larkins stand outdoors next to a red and white boat named "Nestucca" and a house and bushes in the background. They are both wearing shorts.
Skip Bailey & David Larkins
Dorymen
Skip Bailey (Cloverdale) is a doryman in the best tradition of Pacific City. At the age of fourteen, Bailey and his close friend were already proud owners of a double-ended dory boat. In keeping with the tradition, they launched early morning off the beach. They would row through the surf, “silver fish” for salmon and cod during the day, and then would sell their haul at the local fish market.
Sreevidhya Chandramouli sitting in front of her instrument.
Sreevidhya Chandramouli
Karaikudi Vina Performer
Sreevidhya Chandramouli (Portland) is a tenth-generation descendant from the illustrious Karaikudi Vina Tradition of South India. In the last three decades, she has contributed to the musical tapestry in Oregon through universities and private teaching. She often selects students to reside with her to learn the art in depth. Many of the students learn to perform and teach as they advance their careers in various fields. Through her own solo and group performances with her family, she brings the grandeur of the tradition to her community.
Image of Sridharini dancing
Sridharini Sridharan
Bharatanatyam Classical Indian Dance
Sridharini Sridharan (Hillsboro) started dancing at the age of 7 and had her “arangetram” (a debut performance that symbolizes the end of her apprenticeship and the beginning of her professional mastery) at the age of 12 in the presence of the doyen of Bharatanatyam - Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. Sridharan founded her dance school, Kalashiksha in 2016, where she teaches over 30 students of various ages to continue this traditional art form.
Stacy Rose preparing dough for baking
Stacy Rose
Foodways, Israeli Folk Dance Instruction
Stacy Rose (North Bend), is a traditional Jewish cook and baker, Israeli folk dance teacher, and musician. Rose shares her knowledge of traditional dance with her congregation and the greater south coast community. A traditional and innovative cook, she is known for her bagel brigade and matzoh ball soup, which she delivers to those who need their comfort and sustenance.
Stephanie Craig is standing in front of an audience holding a small woven basket. She is wearing a gray shirt with black cardigan and is gesturing with her left hand.
Stephanie Craig, anqati təmtəm tənas siyaxus
Basket Making
Stephanie Craig (Dayton, OR) is a seventh-generation traditional basket weaver and culture keeper in the Grand Ronde homelands. She teaches intergenerational classes across the Pacific Northwest and beyond and has taught more than 25,000 students. “The best way I can keep this going,” she says, “is to teach as many people as I can.”
Steve Campbell stands and plays an electric fiddle in his workshop. He is wearing a white button-up shirt and blue jeans.
Steve Campbell
Musical Instrument Making
Steve Campbell (Prineville) is an instrument maker who refined his skills on the production floor at Breedlove Guitar manufacturing. He now works from his own shop where he has crafted over 100 guitars, mandolins, and fiddles out of Oregon timber and exotic foreign tonewoods.
the artist, Steve Harris, kneels to the right side of the image helping his young daughter Caity with rawhide braiding. He wears a blue shirt and brown vest.
Steve Harris
Gear and Saddle Maker, Rawhide Braider
Steve Harris (Roseburg) is a gear and saddle maker in the Spanish California vaquero tradition. A horseman and rawhide braider, he makes hackamores, reins, and bridle sets. He also cures his own hides, cuts his own strings, and builds the occasional saddle.
Steve McKay sits at a workbench with a leather saddle piece held down with his left hand and a hammer in his right. He is wearing a white striped button-up shirt.
Steve McKay
Saddle Making
Steve McKay (Burns) is a buckaroo and traditional saddle maker. McKay learned to tool saddles in the 80s from fellow traditional artist Len Babb II. Working buckaroos around the state of Oregon consider McKay a the “go-to” for rugged, functional gear.

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