Sights & SoundsGankhuyag Natsag and Zanabazar Gankhuyag
Tsam is an ancient Buddhist ritual performed by skilled dancers wearing elaborately ornamented costumes and masks. The Tsam was first introduced in Mongolia at the beginning of the eighth century when …
Sights & SoundsGail Hobbs-Page and Kyle L. Kilduff
Gail Hobbs-Page was given her first pair of goats as a child growing up on a North Carolina farm. “I loved their milk, and I loved the idea that I …
Sights & SoundsRemembering Earl Blake: Carnival Costume Master
We are shocked and sad to report the passing of Virginia Folklife Master Artist Earl Blake, who died unexpectedly at his home on Saturday, June 16. A dear friend of …
Sights & SoundsRandal Eller and Drew Plowman
Southwest Virginia boasts some of the finest makers of stringed instruments in the United States. Much of this is a result of the wide-reaching influence and mentoring of the late …
Sights & SoundsJohn Buck and James R. Lumpkins Jr.
The importation and manufacturing of firearms have been part of Virginia’s history since European settlement. The first documented firearms brought to Virginia in 1607 were muskets equipped with matchlocks, snaphances, …
Sights & SoundsUbaldo Sanchez and Jorge Cabrera
Alfombras de arracin (rice carpets) are created in Guatemalan cities and villages during Holy Week. Using dyed sawdust, rice, dried beans, and other vegetable materials, teams of artists create a …
Sights & SoundsJimmy Price and Alex Handley
Working from his home business not far from the site of his grandfather’s farm in Amherst, Virginia, Jimmy Price is a master of traditional building craft skills once prized and …
Sights & SoundsTom Van Nortwick and Andrew Elder
Tom Van Nortwick of Franklin County is Virginia’s master of pinstriping, the precise application by hand of a thin line of paint to create designs on auto body panels. Tom …
Sights & SoundsCharles McRaven and Willie Lehmann and Daniel Malcolm
Charles “Mac” McRaven has been building with stone, log, and hewn logs since he was eleven years old. His parents built their homes in the 1940s with the help of …
Sights & SoundsElton Williams and Earl Sawyer
The steel drum, or “pan” as it is called in the Caribbean, was invented in Trinidad about the time of World War II. Afro-Trinidadians resourcefully crafted this musical instrument out …
Sights & SoundsGeorge Butler and Warner Rice
The story of Reedville, Virginia, is linked to the commercial fishing industry that developed late in the nineteenth century. From this tiny fisherman’s town located between the Potomac and Rappahannock …
Sights & SoundsOlen Gardner and Ross Matthews
The Folklife Apprenticeship Program includes various styles of banjo playing, so it was a natural fit to add one in banjo making, along with the invaluable skill of vintage instrument …
