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.
Zelyanovska poses in front of her Petrykivka painting.
Tetyana Zelyanovska
Ukrainian Weaving, Petrykivka, and Singing
Tetyana Zelyanovska (Lake Oswego) lived in Ukraine until just four years ago. Since moving, she has tried to keep Ukrainian traditions alive in her family. Zelyanovska is a very active member of her local Ukrainian community.
The Brownsmead Flats pose outdoors with two acoustic guitars, a banjo, and a fiddle with greenery and hills in the background. They are wearing t-shirts and jeans.
The Brownsmead Flats
String Band
The Brownsmead Flats (Brownsmead, OR) call themselves a crabgrass band; they make string band music that combines bluegrass with a strong sense of maritime tradition. Members include Dan Sutherland, Ray Raihala, Ned Heavenrich, John Fenton, and Larry Moore. Guitarist, singer, and harmonica player Ned Heavenrich brings a decade of commercial fishing experience to the band’s music, and banjoist and singer Ray Raihala has worked in and around fish markets his whole life. Performing songs like “Astoria’s Bar,” their music finds an enthusiastic audience and common culture at Astoria’s annual FisherPoets’ Gathering.
The Pedee Women's Club building. It is a red house with a white roof and white trim. The Club sign is rounded and has a daffodil on it.
The Pedee Women's Club
Quilting
Pedee Women’s Club (Pedee) has dedicated itself since the early 1900s to community service through quilting and food distribution. The club supports veterans abroad with care boxes that always contain homemade cookies. They donate quilts to the local veteran's care facilities with homemade lap quilts and twin blankets. The club also makes quilts for children in the care system.
Theresa Richards Chickering stands in front of a colorful geometric quilt on the wall. She is wearing a patterned tank top.
Theresa Richards Chickering
Traditional Quilter
Theresa Richards Chickering (Reedsport) is a traditional quilter and artist who now creates original quilts using her own designs. Chickering has been a pivotal figure in her community for over 25 years as both an artist and a teacher. Today in her personal work, she has become known for her landscape quilts—and in more recent years—for her abstract quilt designs in the vein of today’s modern quilt movement.
Thomas MorningOwl stands outside and gestures with his right hand. He is wearing a blue t-shirt and light blue jeans. He is also wearing a beaded necklace with a beaded pouch.
Thomas MorningOwl
Umatilla Language, Cornhusk Weaving, Drum Making, Healing Arts, Traditional Dancing
Thomas MorningOwl (Pilot Rock) is a cornhusk weaver, drum maker, and traditional dancer. He has spent his life learning those traditional Umatilla skills as well as healing arts and language skills.
Members of the Tillamook Swiss Society dance at the Centennial Celebration in 2022. Image by Greg Kozawa, for the Tillamook Coast Visitor's Association.
Tillamook Swiss Society
Traditional Arts Organization
The Tillamook Swiss Society (Tillamook) is a traditional arts organization dedicated to preserving Swiss customs in Tillamook County. “Each succeeding generation carries out the traditional activities of the preceding generation, thereby assuring the Swiss heritage will never be lost.”
Tom Blasdell stands outdoors next to a white truck. He is wearing a purple shirt that says "Blasdell's Stockdogs", blue jeans, and a white cowboy hat.
Tom Blasdell
Stockdog Training
Tom Blasdell (Redmond) is a stock dog trainer, training dogs to herd, cut, and chase cattle for local cattle ranchers. Working mostly with Border collies and Australian shepherds, Blasdell puts his dogs through a two-month training with voice and whistle commands before trying the real work on his sprawling two-thousand head Wagontire Ranch.
Tom Herrera stands outdoors next to a welded sculpture. He is wearing a rust colored shirt and blue jeans.
Tom Herrera
Welding
Tom Herrera (Mosier) creates custom metal work and art pieces for homes and gardens at his Prairie Star Designs studio on Mosier Creek. Using his skills in graphic and industrial design and welding, Herrera's work reflects his unique and whimsical sense of humor.
Tom Swearingen stands next to a wooden building wearing a black jacket, a black cowboy hat, and a red scarf.
Tom Swearingen
Cowboy Poetry
Tom Swearingen (Tualatin) is a cowboy poet with a long family history of ranching and farming. Tom’s works celebrate the people and the land of the American West with infectious rhythm and rhyme.
Tommy Nunn uses an electric saw machine and works on a wooden instrument. He wears a blue plaid shirt.
Tommy Nunn
Luthier/Bouzouki Making
Tommy Nunn (Summit) is a luthier, a stringed-instrument maker. He first learned the craft as an apprentice and now makes his own hand carved instruments, including violins, harps, guitars, and mandolins. He also teaches his craft.
Tonya Rosebrook races around a white barrel with a gray horse. She is wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, a black cowboy hat, and blue jeans.
Tonya Rosebrook
Barrel Racing
Tonya Rosebrook (Prineville) is a barrel racer with several generations of devoted rodeo contestants in her family. Her time is spent teaching the next generation of barrel racers and competing at local barrel racing events.
Troy Haselip sits in front of a desk with fly tying materials and an orange wall in the background. He is wearing a light gray t-shirt and a camo baseball cap.
Troy Haselip
River Guide, Fly Tier, Angler
Troy Haselip (Corvallis) is a river guide, fly fisher, fly tier, and owner of Watershed Fly Shop. He has been fly fishing since 2004. Haselip’s criteria for being a great angler is being able to pull fish out of any body of water, which requires technical skill, local knowledge, and understanding fish.
Tuaopepe Tasi Keener sits in front of a sewing machine. She is wearing a light blue tank top and a necklace.
Tuaopepe Tasi Keener
Polynesian Dance
Tuaopepe Tasi Keener (Keizer) is a Samoan dancer and musician. Keener, who learned dance from her mother in Western Samoa, followed in her mother's footsteps here in Oregon. Her dance troupe, Paradise of Samoa, performs a variety of traditional Pacific Islander dances, including Hawaiian, Tahitian, Maori, Samoan, and Fijian. Keener's other traditional arts include weaving, playing the ukulele, and singing.
Tulehoidjad pose in front of a Scandinavian boat. They are wearing traditional embroidered outfits.
Tulehoidjad
Estonian Folk Dance
Tulehoidjad (Portland), an Estonian folk dance troupe, has kept Estonian folk dances alive in the region for four generations. In 1950, Lehti Merilo founded the group, and her daughter, Liina Teose, has directed the group since 1985. Tulehoidjad performs a wide range of Estonian dances including circle, line, and partner dances.
Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe pose against a black background. They both wear black robes with kanji characters on them.
Unit Souzou
Japanese Taiko Drumming
Unit Souzou (Portland) is a Japanese taiko drum group that draws its name from the Japanese word souzou, meaning imagination, creation, and noisy. Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe formed the group in 2014. Unit Souzou currently has a professional performance team with several taiko specialists and a community performance group.
Wally Cunial stands in a kitchen and prepares traditional Italian food. He wears a white t-shirt, a cream printed apron, and a checkered baseball cap.
Wally Cunial
Italian Foodways
Wally Cunial (Klamath Falls) is a tradition Italian cook and an expert in Italian foodways. As a member of the Sons of Italy, Cunial works to foster Italian heritage and shares his knowledge of traditional Northern Italian cuisine with the community.
Wambui Machua poses in front of a white wall. She is wearing a turquoise patterned outfit and a large necklace.
Wambui Machua
Kenyan Foodways
Wambui Machua (Portland/Beaverton) is a Kenyan chef and owner of Spice of Africa, a Portland-based African restaurant. Born in Nairobi, Kenya and of Kikiyu heritage, Machua learned to cook from the matriarchs of her family. Today she teaches African cooking classes, caters, sells food at markets, and funds charitable projects in Kenya.
Members of Weaving Together sit together in a room on blue chairs.
Weaving Together
Karen Backstrap Loom Weaving
“Weaving Together—The Karen Women of Portland” (Portland) is a group of refugee women weavers from the eastern border regions of Myanmar (formerly Burma). As young children, these Karen women learned to weave on backstrap looms. The Karen Women of Portland find that this traditional activity provides a source of income and helps them adapt to their lives in Oregon.
Wendy Valentine
sheep shearer
Wendy Valentine (Langlois) is a fourth-generation sheep shearer who has been shearing sheep since 1981. Valentine learned to shear from her grandfather and has also taught her son to shear.
Wenix Red Elk stands outdoors next to several banners showing information about local habitats and first foods. She wears a white, black and gray geometric blouse.
Wenix Red Elk
First Foods Outreach, Weaving
Wenix Red Elk (Pendleton) is a weaver who grew up in the Umatilla Reservation. She is very knowledgeable about First Foods, the relationship between each of the foods and the tribe, and the tribe’s current efforts to restore habitats.

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