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.

Culture Keepers Roster Map

 

 

Found 285 profiles.
Cecil Coons sits on a stump outside in Burns, Oregon and demonstrates how to chip an arrowhead (obsidian). He wears a black long sleeved shirt, a white cowboy hat, and a talon pendant.
Cecil and Emory Coons
Arrowhead Chippers
Cecil and Emory Coons (Burns) are father and son arrowhead chippers of obsidian they collect from the hills around their home. They use and teach traditional techniques for chipping a variety of arrowhead styles. The family home, totally obscured behind piles of gathered obsidian to be sold outright to collectors or to be used in reproduction arrowheads and spears, shows the Coons’ unbridled passion for the pursuit. Cecil refers to his son as “probably the finest spear-point maker in the world.”
Celeste Whitewolf stands outside and poses in front of tall bushes. She wears a purple sweater over a purple shirt.
Celeste Whitewolf
Native American Basket Weaving and Fiber Arts
Celeste Whitewolf (Tigard) is a fiber artist and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla. She credits her Karuk grandmother for her talent for basket weaving. Using natural materials that she collects, Whitewolf makes baskets for traditional uses, like picking huckleberries, as well as for handbags.
Chan-Phirath Farley stands in front of traditional Cambodian wedding attire at Fina Salon in Beaverton, Oregon. She wears a black jacket, black knitted scarf, and black knitted hat.
Chan-Phirath Farley
Cambodian Dance
Chan-Phirath Farley (Beaverton) is a Khmer dancer and traditional wedding planner. A cofounder of the Cambodian Dance Troupe of Oregon, she instructs young dancers in folk and classical Khmer dance. Farley also organizes elaborate Cambodian wedding ceremonies.
Cheryl Hobbs holds an award-winning quilt in front of a white wall of the Northwestern Motel in Heppner, Oregon. She wears a purple sweatshirt over a white collared shirt.
Cheryl Hobbs
Quilting and Sewing
Cheryl Hobbs (Irrigon) has been a quilter since at least 1990. She made all of her own clothes while growing up and then progressed to quilting.
Group photo of the Chiloquilters (eight people) standing in front of a white banner that reads "CHILOQUILTERS" in rainbow letters.
Chiloquilters
Quilting
The Chiloquilters (Chiloquin), a women’s quilting group, meets weekly to quilt and sew together. Members work on joint projects and help each other with individual pieces. All contribute to an annual quilt show at the Chiloquin Community Center where they showcase their newest quilts.
Cindy Kopcinski and Janis Smith stand outside in front of a dark brown building and a pile of thunder eggs and hold large thunder egg slices
Cindy Kopcinski and Janis Smith
Mining and Lapidary
Cindy Kopcinski and Janis Smith (Mitchell) are mother and daughter rock hound and mining partners at Lucky Strike, where they mine "thunder eggs" -- geological curiosities collected from the site for centuries. Both women cut, polish, and create original art from thunder eggs which, like geodes, look non-descript on the exterior but reveal complex, crystal- line interiors when sliced open.
Clair Kehrberg headshot in the outdoors with trees and mountains in the backdrop
Clair Kehrberg
Saddle Maker, Gear Maker, and Leatherworker
Clair Kehrberg (John Day) is a master leatherworker, gear maker, and saddle maker. She grew up in eastern Oregon’s ranch country and continues to ranch with her husband in John Day. Kehrberg is well-known for her intricate leather work and brings her skills to chinks and chaps as well as to elegantly hand-tooled leather briefcases, handbags, earrings, and more.
Colleen Blackwood sits at her sewing machine in Pendleton, Oregon and makes a colorful quilt. She wears a white long sleeved shirt.
Colleen Blackwood
Quilting
Colleen Blackwood (Pendleton) is known in Pendleton for all things quilt—her extraordinary machine quilting, teaching quilting classes, and finishing quilts. She cofounded Crazy Horse Quilters, which organizes the annual Pendleton Convention Center Quilt Show each May.
Correy McAtee stands in front of a tall wooden fence. She wears a beige sun hat and a dark purple tank top.
Correy McAtee
Sheep Sheerer, Lamb Breeder, Rancher
Correy McAtee (Prineville) is a certified and professional sheep shearer who raises heritage Romeldales, other breeds of sheep, and lamb for wool, dairy, and breeding stock for her business, Custom Colored Critters. McAtee is a 3rd generation farmer who grew up in Oakridge, Oregon on a cattle, timber, and sheep farm.
Dagoberto Morales Duran sitting on a couch wearing a grey t-shirt.
Dagoberto Morales Duran
Purépecha Wheat Straw Weaving, Dry-Stone Wall Building
Dagoberto Morales Duran (Medford) is a traditional P'urhépecha tule and wheat straw weaver and dry-stone wall builder from San Jeronimo Purenchecuaro, in central Michoacán, Mexico. He is descended from four generations of craftsmen and learned tule and straw weaving at age five. He also learned from his father to build dry stone walls.
Dale Greenley
Fly Tyer, Angler, Fishing Guide
Dale Greenley (Myrtle Creek) is a fly tyer and angler who grew up doing both on the North Umpqua River near Roseburg. He's worked as a fishing guide on the Umpqua, but his real passion is tying flies, which he did that commercially for many years for Orvis.
Dan Fulwyler practices roping on a brown mustang outside at his home arena. He wears a white long sleeved shirt under a tan vest, dark brown leather chaps, and a camo baseball hat.
Dan and Robin Fulwyler
Ranch and Rodeo Traditions
Ranchers Dan and Robin Fulwyler (Ontario) are passionate practitioners of western ranch and rodeo traditions. They compete as a duo in team roping and cowboy shooting events. The couple’s two daughters are also involved in rodeo and ranch activities.
Dan Cannon stands inside his tire shop, Cannon's Tire Shop, holding a thunder egg in his right hand and a flashlight in his left. He wears a blue collared shirt over a blue polo shirt and a green fishing hat.
Dan Cannon
Storytelling/Poetry
Dan Cannon (Mitchell) is a community poet and gifted storyteller with a wide-ranging repertoire of local histories and anecdotes of everyday life. Some stories were passed down to him, and some are newly told, but all are embellished with his farcical style. He can be found relating stories at many town occasions, or at his Cannon Tire Center, which serves as a cultural hub for his small community.
Dan Fowler sits next to a tall wooden shelf. He wears a plaid button-up shirt and a white cowboy hat.
Dan Fowler
Rawhide Braiding
Dan Fowler (Hines) is a traditional rawhide braider and buckaroo. Dan has worked on ranches since high school, where he began working with rawhide. Today, buckaroos throughout eastern Oregon use Fowler’s reins, romals (whip), and bosals (noseband).
Daniela Mahoney poses against a white background. She wears a white shirt, black jacket, and a multicolored pearl necklace.
Daniela Mahoney
Traditional Egg Decorating
Daniela Mahoney (Portland) is a traditional Czech and Slovakian egg decorator and a Master Artist who participated in the Oregon Folklife Network’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2012. Czech and Slovak egg decorating is associated with celebrations of Spring and new life. Mahoney, who learned from her grandmother, teaches Czech and Slovakian egg decorating to school aged kids all over the country.
Dave and Mary Ann Dozer stand outside a building in Sisters, Oregon. Dave wears a purple polo, and Ann wears a blue vest over a lime green shirt.
Dave and Mary Ann Dozer
Bamboo Fly Rod Maker, Fly Fishing Guide
Dave and Mary Ann Dozer (Sisters) serve the thriving community of fly fishers visiting or living in the area. Dave grew up with the sport and now builds traditional bamboo fly rods with the same tools and materials used 100 years ago. Mary Ann works as a casting instructor and fishing guide and helps organize meet-ups and skill-shares, especially for women fishers.
Dave Clowes stands in front of a tree (supportive structure for a saddle) and holds a knife and a brand in his western shop in Bonanza, Oregon. He wears a brown apron over a blue collared shirt, and a white cowboy hat.
Dave Clowes
Saddle Making
Dave Clowes (Bonanza) is a western saddle maker and the owner of Dave's Saddle and Tack in Bonanza. After learning to repair saddles, Clowes easily made the step to crafting his own, which he now sells alongside other western items in his shop.
Dave Gagnon stands outside next to white masonry in Historic Baker City, Oregon. He wears a black long sleeved shirt.
Dave Gagnon
Master Masonry
Dave Gagnon (Baker City) is a highly detailed master mason, who has worked for nearly four decades in the age old craft of building or restoring structures of stone and brick. Ojibwa/Chippewa on his father’s side, Gagnon is one of 50 family members involved in the trade.
Leung stands in front of a red poster.
David Leung
Kung Fu and Tai Chi Master
David Leung (Eugene), is a master of Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Leung was schooled in the martial arts as a child in Hong Kong and came to Eugene in 1968 as a 19-year-old student. Known most often in the community as Master David, Leung has been a teacher of martial arts and psychology in Eugene for 40 years.
Dean Adams kneels outside with a juniper bark basket resting on his knee, and two more of the same baskets on his right and left. He wears a blue shirt and blue jeans.
Dean Adams
Native American Silversmithing/Basketry
Dean Adams (Burns) is a Native American (Burns Paiute; Jemez Pueblo) silversmith and basket maker. Adams learned to polish stones and make ring shanks from his father. Along with silver work, Adams is known for his juniper bark “knee” baskets, traditionally used for storage.

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