Elkins, W.Va.—The West Virginia Folklife Program, a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council, will present three showcases featuring its seven participating pairs of the 2022-2023 Folklife Apprenticeship Program.
The first event takes place on Saturday, September 9, at 3 p.m., at the Phil Gainer Community Center in Elkins. This showcase celebrates fiber arts with Enrica McMillon (Randolph County) and her apprentice Barbara Weaner (Tucker County), soul food cooking with Xavier Oglesby and his apprentice and niece Brooklynn Oglesby (Raleigh County), and mushroom foraging with Sharon Briggs and her apprentice Anthony Murray (Hampshire County).
The event is free and open to the public. It starts at 3 p.m. with a demonstration hour. During that time, the public can meet the program participants, including Xavier and Brooklynn Oglesby, who will be preparing potato salad in the kitchen.
At 4 p.m., the formal presentation starts, with West Virginia State Folklorist Jennie Williams leading a conversation with the pairs about their traditional art forms, apprenticeship experiences, and connections to their communities. A reception will follow, featuring soul food prepared by the Oglesby family.
The next event will be Saturday, September 30, 4 p.m., at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State University. It will feature West Virginia old-time fiddle music with Gerry Milnes (Randolph County) and apprentice Annick Odom (Monongalia County), clawhammer banjo with Joe Herrmann and apprentice Dakota Karper (Hampshire County), and fiddle repair with Chris Haddox and apprentice Mary Linscheid (Monongalia County). The final event, held Sunday, November 5, 3 p.m., at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, celebrates Appalachian storytelling with Bil Lepp and his apprentice James Froemel.
To RSVP for these free public events, please go to wvfolklife.org and see “Save the Dates for the WV Folklife Apprenticeship Showcases.”
The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers a stipend to West Virginia traditional artists or tradition bearers working with qualified apprentices on a year-long in-depth apprenticeship in their cultural expression or traditional art form. These apprenticeships encourage experts in their respective art forms to share their techniques and artistry, as well as the histories and traditions of these folklife practices. This marks the third year of the biennial Folklife Apprenticeship Program.
The West Virginia Folklife Program is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council and is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Folk & Traditional Arts Program. West Virginia Folklife is dedicated to the documentation, preservation, presentation, and support of West Virginia’s vibrant cultural heritage and living traditions.
For more information on the event and West Virginia Folklife Program, visit wvfolklife.org or http://wvhumanities.org/programs/west-virginia-folklife-program/, or contact Jennie Williams at williams@wvhumanities.org or (304)346-8500.
The West Virginia Humanities Council, an independent nonprofit corporation, is governed by a board of directors whose members are drawn from all parts of West Virginia. The state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), it is supported by the NEH, the State of West Virginia, and contributions from the private sector. The purposes of the West Virginia Humanities Council are educational, and its mission is to support a vigorous program in the humanities statewide in West Virginia.