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 286 profiles.
Laila Griffith stands in a kitchen wearing a red sweater.
Laila Griffith
Norwegian Foodways
Laila Griffith (Klamath Falls) is a traditional Norwegian cook and baker. Particularly known for her lefse, a large, rolled potato flatbread, Griffith enjoys making her mother’s traditional recipes.
LaRhonda Steele in a black and white photo standing slightly to the side and looking at the camera.
LaRhonda Steele
Gospel Music, Rhythm and Blues
LaRhonda Steele (Portland) is a gospel singer recognized as one the region’s best rhythm and blues vocalists. She grew up in the rural town of Spencer, Oklahoma, where her grandfather was an evangelist. Her mother sang in a gospel quartet and the family sang as part of their daily routine—Steele and her older sister harmonized as they did their daily chores. As teenagers, both sisters joined a small church choir in a nearby community where the preacher recognized Steele’s immense vocal talents. The hymns and songs she sang included “Blessed Assurance,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Going Up Yonder.” Steele performed solos before services around the region, and by the time she was 16, she was directing her first choir.
Larry Bacon sits at a table with a pair of silver spurs and wears a blue shirt and blue cowboy hat.
Larry Bacon
Silversmithing
Larry Bacon (Enterprise) is a silversmith known for his custom-made Western style riding gear. A retired rancher, he now exclusively turns out made-to-order bits, spurs, buckles, and jewelry—artistic creations that are as easily displayed as worn. His work is commissioned for rodeo prizes and gifts.
Two men sit in a music studio in front of large mixers and both wear white t-shirts.
Larry Barkemeyer
Songwriter/Guitar Player
Larry Barkemeyer (Cottage Grove) is a songwriter, guitar player, and founding member of the acoustic Americana band, The Huckleberrys. A Vietnam veteran himself, Barkemeyer uses that experience in his musical work with other veterans.
Larry Dick stands outside and wears a plaid shirt, orange hat, and sunglasses.
Larry Dick
Tule Mats, Deer Hoof Items, Wasco Rituals
Larry Dick (Warm Springs), whose Indian name is Taaw-Lee-Winch, is an elder in the Warm Springs Tribe. In his youth he became an apprentice to his uncle, Chief Nelson Wallulatum, and learned traditional Wasco songs, arts, tribal practices and rituals. Dick, who is the only tribal member to know the words of many Wasco songs, is also the eldest member of the Wasco Medicine Society Singers.
Larry McLain stands indoors and plays a fiddle. He wears a black collared shirt and a camo baseball cap.
Larry McLain and The McLain Family
Old Time Music
Larry McLain (Lakeview) is a fiddler of old time music. The McLain family of Lakeview is synonymous with old time fiddling in Lake County, participating in the Old Time Fiddlers Association for decades. McLain and his twin brother, Terry, play all over Oregon.
Larry Morgan stands in front of a white wall and holds a blue and white speckled mug. He wears a blue plaid shirt.
Larry Morgan
Rawhide Leather Braiding
Larry Morgan (Lakeview) is a rawhide leather braider and working cowboy. Having trained with master braider Bill Black, Morgan trades his work for ranching gear and sells through Facebook and word of mouth.
Laura Anderson stands on a pier with docked boats in the background. She wears a black tank top.
Laura Anderson
Foodways
Laura Anderson (Newport, OR) is the owner and operator of Local Ocean, a fresh seafood market and restaurant on Newport’s Historic Bayfront. She draws on her connection to fisherman and background in marine science to source the best Pacific Northwest catches and serves them to customers in a way that highlights the quality of coldwater fish.
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.
Laurie Danzuka stands in front of pine trees, wearing a shirt with a black, white, and red star design and wearing a bandana over her braided hair.
Laurie Danzuka
Designated Food Gatherer
Laurie Danzuka (Warm Springs) is a designated food gatherer for her family and for the Simnasho Longhouse. An enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, she is responsible for gathering roots and berries, processing them, and preparing them with other women for Longhouse feasts. She is also involved in teaching her nieces how to take on this role in the future.
Leena Mela Riker sits in front of a woven hanging blanket with a a white, black, and red striped plaid design. She wears a grey and black striped long sleeve shirt.
Leena Mela Riker
Finnish Weaver
Leena Mela Riker is a traditional Finnish weaver. The techniques to produce rya and raanu loom weavings have been passed through the generations and are still in use by present-day textile designers. Riker’s work has been widely exhibited in galleries and textile shows in Portland and on the Oregon coast.
Lei McCornack stands outside in front of banana palms. She wears a blue collared shirt with palm fronds printed on it, and a yellow and white tropical flower tucked behind her left ear.
Lei McCornack
Tahitian Basketweaving, Shell-Bead Work
Lei McCornack (Eugene) weaves Tahitian baskets, does shell-bead work, and carves Hawaiian-style gourds. McCornack, who was born in Tahiti, learned these arts from older family friends when she returned to her birth country at age 26.
Len 'Peanut' Babb stands in front of racks of leatherworking tools. He wears a wide brimmed straw hat and a red collared shirt.
Len 'Peanut' Babb
Saddle Making
Len 'Peanut' Babb (Paisley) is a working cowboy and 3rd-generation saddle maker. Babb works with leather to make saddles, reins, and other traditional gear. He has made nearly 600 saddles, as well as wire and beeswax sculptures of cowboys and horses.
Linda Romero stands in La Perla Bakery in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and handles pieces of sliced bread. She wears a black t-shirt that says "La Perla Bakery".
Linda Romero
Mexican Baking
Linda Romero (Klamath Falls) and her husband, Orlando Freas, own La Perla Bakery in Klamath Falls. Specializing in Mexican cakes, pastries, and breads, the couple also makes tamales, salsa, and food for special occasions.
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.
Linda Wood stands in a room with blue walls. She wears a gray/beige collared shirt.
Linda Wood
Quilting
Linda Wood (Chiloquin) is a quilter and founding member of the Chiloquilters. Wood has a knack for her “scrappy” colorful quilts, an older traditional style that involves putting together many different fabrics into one quilt. She is constantly working on projects and estimates she’ll have to live to be 104 to make all the quilts she has planned.
Lonnie in a white Cowboy hat playing his guitar.
Lionel "Lonnie" Shurtleff
Cowboy Balladry, Poetry, Storytelling
Lonnie Shurtleff (La Grande) performs original and traditional cowboy poetry, music, and stories reflecting his life experiences ranching and running wild horses in the mountains and deserts of the northwest. His artistry blends literary cadence, oral melody, and western imagery into a compelling presentation.
Lisa Ackerman plays a brown guitar while sitting inside and wearing a pale yellow shirt, gray hat, and jeans.
Lisa Ackerman
Hat Shaping
Lisa Ackerman (Lakeview) is a master hat shaper; she customizes palm leaf hats for the individual wearer, and also cleans and reshapes felt hats. Shaping a hat to a person’s head requires technical skills and perception to balance the person’s face, head, and body to the hat shape. Ackerman is known in her community as the “hat lady.”
Oval framed school photo of Lisa J. Taylor wearing a dark blue shirt and a necklace.
Lisa J. Taylor
Machine Quilter
Lisa J. Taylor (Waldport) is a long-arm machine quilter, originally from the Philadelphia area. She moved to Waldport several years ago and started her business, Quilter in the Glen. Taylor, who has a reputation as an amazing quilter among some of her peers, keeps extremely busy quilting for hundreds of clients, turning their tops into finished works of art. She and her clients have won numerous ribbons at local quilt shows from Southern California to Oregon.
Lisa Robinson
cowboy hatmaking, farrier, horse trader
Lisa Robinson (Silver Lake) is a cowboy hat maker, farrier, and trades horses. She grew up in a cowboying family in south central Oregon. After years of ranching, running cattle, and farriering, she learned to make quality, custom-made western hats of 100% beaver for working cowboys.

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