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 252 profiles.
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.
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, Blue Grass, 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.
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.
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.
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