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 59 profiles.
Grace Ann Kalama stretches a piece of fry bread dough. She wears a purple t-shirt.
Grace Ann Kalama
Native American Foodways
Grace Ann Kalama (Warm Springs) makes and sells homemade Indian fry bread at the family’s Kalama Family Fry Bread stand. Using flour, baking powder, milk, sugar, and water, she creates the dough, then fries it in hot oil. The Kalama stand is a fixture of the Warm Springs community with many regular customers.
Members of Grupo Condor stand outside holding woodpipes, a drum, and an acoustic guitar.
Grupo Condor
Latin American Folk Music and Musical Instruments
Grupo Condor is a touring folk music ensemble that blends the styles of Spanish, African, and Native American influences. Grupo Condor members are dedicated to the preservation of their diverse heritage and musical backgrounds. Residents of Oregon, group members have traveled throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
Roberta Kirk stands outside on grass. She is wearing black regalia with red, green, and blue beaded adornments as well as hoop earrings and sunglasses.
H’Klumaiyat-Roberta Kirk
Tenino and Wasq’u Regalia Maker, Food Gatherer, Bead and Dentalium Work
H’Klumaiyat-Roberta Kirk (Warm Springs) is a traditional regalia maker and food gatherer who does traditional Wasq’u and Tenino bead and dentalium work and makes Plateau shell dresses as well as moccasins and more. She is a designated food gatherer for the Simnasho Longhouse in Warm Springs, runs sweats, serves as Archives and Museum Collections Manager for the Museum at Warm Springs, and has consulted for museums on Native American artifacts.
James Dionne stands outside and holds a brown feather creation and wears a blue shirt.
James Dionne
Native American Ritual Practices / Sweat Lodge Circle and Powwow Dancing
James Dionne (Ontario) is a Native American tradition keeper from Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Dionne leads sweat lodges at his home and dances Pow-Wow with family and friends at community festivals.
Jayanthi Raman stands in an expressive dance pose against a white background. She wears a red, green, and gold silk sari and beaded ornamental headwear.
Jayanthi Raman
Bharatha Natyam Classical Indian Dance
Jayanthi Raman (Portland) has been a practitioner, teacher and choreographer of the classical Indian Bharatha Natyam dance for more than 4 decades. Bharatha Natyam has its roots in the 2nd century and is the most revered of classical dance styles in India. A 2015 Oregon Folklife Network Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Master Artist, Raman’s passion lies in teaching dance and continuing the traditions for future generations.
Johnny B. Connolly sits and plays a button box accordion in front of a microphone. He wears a dark blue t-shirt and blue jeans.
Johnny B. Connolly
Irish Music
Johnny B. Connolly (Portland) is an internationally recognized master of the Irish button box accordion. Connolly hails from Dublin, but now lives in Portland, where he often plays in pubs with other local Irish musicians.
Several people stand on a checkered floor. Three of them hold a tall drum, three stand around the room facing the drum, and one person in a yellow outfit kneels.
Jonathan Martinez
Aztec Dance
Jonathan Martinez (Beaverton) is a traditional Aztec dancer. He began dancing traditional Mexican Ballet Folklórico as a child then later switched to Danza Azteca. Through dance, he introduces audiences to Mexico’s pre-Hispanic roots.
Julie Johnson holds and talks about a piece of regalia. She wears a blue and white striped shirt and navy blue cardigan.
Julie Johnson
Native American Regalia, Beadwork, Powwow Dancing
Julie Johnson (Salem, Burns Paiute Reservation), an enrolled member of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe, is known for her jingle dress making, beadwork, regalia, and dance. She performed in the opening ceremony of the Salt Lake City Olympics.
Kate Davidson stands in a kitchen and wears a striped blue and white shirt and a gray cardigan.
Kate Davidson
Midwifery
Kate Davidson (Silverton) is a retired direct-entry midwife – credentialed without first becoming a nurse. Davidson was a driving force in the establishment of certification for direct-entry midwives in Oregon. In addition to taking care of women’s health, she is a talented artist, avid gardener, and excellent cook. She especially enjoys preparing traditional Jewish holiday foods.
Portrait of Katie Harris Murphy, Native American woman wearing beaded buckskin.
Katie Harris Murphy
Native American Regalia, Beadwork
Katie Harris Murphy (Pendleton) is a bead worker and traditional artist of the Wallowa Band Nimiipuu, Cayuse, Umatilla & Karuk tribes. She is a bead worker at Harris Sisters Co., where she and her two sisters "make traditional beadwork & leatherwork while having a huge appreciation for western and Indigenous fashion".
Kelli Palmer stands in front of a white wall wearing a black and white floral blouse.
Kelli Palmer
Wampus and Cornhusk Basketry
Kelli Palmer (Warm Springs) is a Warm Springs Cornhusk Weaver. Palmer uses dried cornhusk, hemp, and buckskin (brain-tanned, smoked deer hide) to make her traditional baskets. Palmer, an Oregon Folklife Network Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Master Artist in 2012, creates cornhusk baskets traditionally worn around the waist and used for dried food storage.
Kitty Lauman rides a brown horse in an outdoor arena. She wears a beige brimmed hat, plaid shirt, beige vest, and blue jeans.
Kitty Lauman
Horse Training
Kitty Lauman (Prineville) is a horse trainer whose grandfather was the legendary horse trainer, John Sharp. Working as a team, Lauman and her grandfather could gentle a wild mustang in two hours. Today, Lauman conducts horse training clinics at her home facility and throughout the region using some of the same bamboo pole and rope gentling techniques her grandfather developed back in the 1930s.
Laura sits in front of a brick wall in Montana Peaks Hat Co. and wears a black cowboy hat and black shirt.
Laura Wortman
Hat Making
Laura Wortman (Pendleton) is a western hat maker who apprenticed with Native American master hatter Nat Funmaker in Arizona. At the end of the apprenticeship she bought Montana Peaks Hat Co. and moved it to Pendleton, Oregon.
Linda Stephenson working with plants in her garden. She wears a gray t-shirt with white flowers on it.
Linda Stephenson
Regional Gardening and Cookery
Linda Stephenson (La Pine) is a master cold climate gardener and Dutch Oven cook who learned her skills from her father. Recognized as one of Central Oregon’s leading authorities on gardening and foodways, she is an 8th-generation Oregonian keeping the family’s cooking and gardening traditions alive.
Luis Vidart expressively tells a story in front of several shelves full of tools. He wears a black jacket and gray baseball cap.
Luis Vidart
Storytelling, Sheep herding, Lumbering, Hunting Tales
Luis Vidart (Orchard) is a master storyteller. His tales are of true-life experiences: plowing fields with oxen on the family farm in Basque Country, herding sheep in remote parts of California and Wyoming, hunting elk, and felling trees in Oregon’s Coastal Range.
Margaret L. Johnson sits in a red booth. She wears a green tank top and a multicolored beaded necklace and earrings.
Margaret L. Johnson
Beadworking
Margaret Johnson (Pendleton) is a Native beadworker. She learned to bead when she was about 14 from elders at Colville Reservation.
Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala pose wearing traditional white outfits and black vests.
Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala
Marimba Music
Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala (Portland) is an eight-piece ensemble of Guatemalan musicians under the leadership of its founder and manager, Domingo Martinez. The group plays locally for private parties and public events and travels nationally and internationally.
Michael Johnson standing outside with a tree in the background. He is wearing a blue shirt with green writing.
Michael Johnson
Cornhusk False Embroidery Twining
Michael Johnson (Umatilla) is a master of Umatilla Cornhusk False Embroidery. False embroidery is also known as cornhusk twining and used when making ceremonial hats for naming ceremonies, food gathering, and traditional dancing. Johnson who was a Master Artist with the Oregon Folklife Network’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2012 was inspired by Tribal elders to be the weaving teacher he is today.
Mildred Quaempts stands in front of a grassy field wearing a dentalium beaded shawl with olive green trim.
Mildred Quaempts
Umatilla Dentalium Piecework
Mildred Quaempts (Umatilla), a master in Umatilla dentalium piecework, is renowned for her shell dresses. Quaempts, a 2012 Master Artist with the Oregon Folklife Network Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, began to make shell dresses at age 9 under the guide of her grandmother. Making veils for brides is one way Quaempts carries on the traditions in her Tribe.
Nisha Joshi poses against a white wall, wearing a blue and gold sari.
Nisha Joshi
Rajastani Folk Songs
Nisha Joshi (Portland) is a traditional Rajasthani folk song artist. These folk songs describe the daily life of villagers, nature, religion, and festivals in the Indian state of Rajasthan. A Master Artist with the Oregon Folklife Network’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2012 Joshi runs the Portland based Swaranjali Academy of Indian Music, and teaches vocal, harmonium, sitar, and tabla lessons from her home.

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