Oregon Culture Keepers Roster

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 (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 (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 (Prineville) is a certified and professional sheep shearer who raises heritage Romeldales, other breeds of sheep, and lamb for wool, dairy, breeding stock for her business, Custom Colored Critters. McAtee is a 3d generation farmer who grew up in Oakridge, Oregon on a cattle, timber and sheep farm. Having gotten into raising sheep early, she honed her shearing skills in Virginia while managing a large commercial sheep flock on a large cattle and sheep farm. After returning to Oregon, she sheared small flocks around Oregon for some 13 years before finally attending the WSU Moses Lake Shearing School. Since then, continuing to shear, adding alpacas, llamas, and goats to the repertoire as well as a brief foray with a sheep dairy along with gaining mentors and providing mentorship has kept skills and knowledge to the forefront while honoring the heritage of sheep ranching and shearing.

D.W. Frommer II (Redmond) started learning traditional bootmaking in Billings, Montana with Mike Ives. Through continued apprenticeship he became traditional artist, part scholar, and part philosopher. The result of devoting his entire career to bettering his craft, he is one of the leading Western bootmakers in the U.S., known for his meticulous attention to details like stitch count, tanning, and dyes.

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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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.

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.

Dennis Best (Columbia) is a retired mariner who continues to make nautical rope mats and regale listeners with the stories of his time at sea. As a US Coast Guard Chief Officer, Best operated a thirty-foot surf rescue boat, as well as forty-one, forty-four, and fifty-two-foot boats and earned the title of Surfman, the highest qualification for small boat rescue operations. Best retired in 1994, though he maintains a Merchant Marines Masters License, has sailed his sailboat, the Andante, across the equator twice, and crafts traditional nautical rope mats.

Donald Webb (Vernonia) is a taxidermist and folk artist. After retiring from a long career in the logging industry, Webb devoted time to his craft, spending his time working on any number of creative projects from cribbage boards to welded horseshoe figurines and taxidermy.

Dorotea Lopez (Cornelius) is a Mixteca culture keeper. Born in San Miguel el Grande, Oaxaca, Mexico, Lopez celebrates her heritage with a group of more than 50 local Oaxacan women who gather regularly to cook their traditional foods, speak their indigenous Mixtec language, and make traditional embroidered textiles.

Doug Caven (Springfield) is a second-generation river guide who has been fishing the McKenzie River since 1962. He specializes in fly-fishing for trout and is a member and former president of the McKenzie River Guides Association. Fishing the McKenzie involves a special boat, specialty rods, and often hand-tied flies.

Duane Van Dyke (Yamhill) is a farmer and competitive horse-drawn plowman. For decades, he’s continued the tradition of raising draft horses and putting them to work plowing.

Dwight Cummins (Silverton) learned how to shear a sheep from his older brothers at their childhood home in Pedee. Cummins currently shears small flocks of sheep, llamas and alpacas part-time in the Willamette Valley, and logs in his spare time as well.

Ed Balfour (Reedsport) is a traditional offshore fisherman. He is captain of the F/B Brandywine, a commercial fishing boat that operates out of Winchester Bay. Respected for his knowledge of the fishery, his insistence on careful preparation, and courage on the high seas, Balfour doesn’t blink when it comes to fishing for tuna 200 miles offshore.