October 3, 2007 Contact:
Sheryl Hayes
Phone: (434)924-3296
Fax: (434)296-4714
Sheryl@virginia.edu
www.virginiafoundation.org
For Immediate Release
October 3, 2007
Contact:
Sheryl Hayes
Phone: (434)924-3296
Fax: (434)296-4714
Sheryl@virginia.edu
www.virginiafoundation.org
For Immediate Release
(Photos and electronic press kit are available online at www.virginiafolklife.org)
Virginia Folklife: Past, Present and Future
What’s 224 pages long, filled with evocative photographs of Virginia Master Folk artists and their apprentices, and celebrates a wide variety of folk traditions both old and new to Virginia? In Good Keeping: Virginia Folklife Apprenticeships, a brand new book written by Jon Lohman, Virginia’s State Folklorist and published by University of Virginia Press.
In Good Keeping tells the story of the first five years of the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH), a statewide organization headquartered in Charlottesville. The Folklife Apprenticeship Program has put its participants, and the time-honored traditions which they practice, on the cultural map of Virginia and the world through the National Folk Festival in Richmond and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC, and now through this beautiful book.
Told in the voice of the Master Artists, the striking photographs and reflective text combine to explain the significance of their craft, their motivations for maintaining and teaching it, the very concept of the tradition itself, and why it’s important to pass these traditions on. Richly illustrated with 180 black and white photographs by photographer Morgan Miller, the 10 x 10 book provides a visual banquet to be enjoyed by those who are familiar with Virginia’s traditional arts as well as newcomers.
Master artists are individuals who have achieved a high level of skill in a particular traditional art form and who want to ensure that the tradition will continue into the future. The Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program pairs these Master Artists with apprentices who will learn the art, craft, or trade, and carry it on.
Jon Lohman, Director of the Virginia Folklife Program and author of the book, criss crosses the Commonwealth identifying Masters, documenting traditions, and serving as an ardent advocate and supporter of these vital cultural expressions. His role is also to help present these traditions through public programs, folk festivals, and through publications such as this book.
When Lohman arrived at the VFH six years ago, his first objective was to establish the Apprenticeship Program. “By highlighting and drawing attention to the traditions of smaller or lesser known communities, an Apprenticeship Program helps validate, celebrate, and raise public awareness of traditional cultures.”
After five years, 40 teams have gone through the program, and over 100 people have participated. Many of them will gather at the National Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia, October 12 through 14, to showcase the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. In Good Keeping will make its debut there on October 12.
With the release of the book and the congregation of so many Masters and Apprentices, the full impact of the Apprenticeship Program will be on display for the first time. The side-by-side presentation of various folk styles will be exciting and illuminating; for instance, dance traditions from Northern India, Mexico, and Appalachia—as practiced in Virginia--will be demonstrated, as will the musical traditions of Tidewater and Southwest Virginia. Virginia foodways and crafts will also be on display.
Robert Vaughan, President of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH), says, “The Virginia Folklife Program (VFP) has made an enormous contribution to preserving the traditional culture of our great Commonwealth. The Apprenticeship program has been especially vital in ensuring that these important, and often endangered, traditions are transmitted to the next generation, from masters to apprentices. VFP has dramatically raised public awareness of the artistry, hard work, and tireless dedication behind many of these traditions, and has served to introduce Virginians to these traditions’ finest and most deserving masters. Apprenticeships have changed the lives of people whose craft or trade has never been recognized as an art before, such as instrument making, canning, or working teams of horses.”
In most states, Folklife programs are housed in arts councils; Lohman explains why the Virginia Folklife Program is housed in Virginia’s state humanities council: “Most folklife programs in arts councils focus on the actual object or performance. Because we are a humanities council, we focus on the context, history, and meaning of the art as well; we believe the work of traditional artists makes a statement about who they are and where they come from. The humanities link the object or product with the story, for instance, Pamunkey Indian women making pottery from the same vein of clay from the Pamunkey River for generations, even centuries.”
Many other projects have spun off from the program, such as recordings of the Paschall Brothers, a Tidewater Gospel group from the first class of the Apprenticeship Program. As a result of the program, participants have been invited to major national Folk Festivals, such as the Smithsonian Folk Festival this summer in which Lohman and many Masters and Apprentices were heavily involved.
After the whirlwind of the National Folk Festival and the release of the book, what’s next for the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program? Lohman says, “There is so much more to do—in five years, we have covered a broad range of Virginia folk traditions, but there are a dizzying number and we have only scratched the surface.”
“I would like to see more involvement of the masters and apprentices in their community, with more local interaction. I’d also like to expand more into areas of the state such as the Shenandoah Valley and Southern Virginia. In an age of big box stores and fast food chains, I would like to see a Virginia where people are connected to traditions that give flavor to local communities and define local culture—a Virginia where communities celebrate the amazing variety and spice of life.”
To learn more about the Virginia Folklife Program or In Good Keeping, or to place an advance order, visit www.virginiafolklife.org