Sights & SoundsJosh Manning & Aslan “Ozzy” Freidline
Josh Manning is apprenticing Aslan “Ozzy” Freidline in how to source, harvest, process, and fire wild clay similar to that used by the first colonial potters.
Sights & SoundsThe Harmonious Lives of Brian Grim and Debbie Grim Yates
Music runs deep in the Grim family. Fiddler Brian Grim and banjoist Debbie Grim Yates, founding members of the influential old-time band The Konnarock Critters, learned from family and local music legends before passing those traditions on to the next generation.
Sights & SoundsBuilding Community for Women Anglers in Richmond
What started as a single fly-fishing class has grown into a thriving community. Meet the Richmond Fly Women, a group redefining the sport through mentorship, shared learning, and connection on the water.
Sights & SoundsRiding the Fall Line
Exploring the evolution of watercraft used on the fall line of the James River, from the dugout canoe to the whitewater raft.
Sights & SoundsA River of Folk Art at Old Dominion University
Since the 1870s, a torrent of coal has flowed from the coalfields of Virginia, across the Piedmont, and to the ports of the Tidewater to the rest of the world. …
Sights & Sounds“Riverlore” at the Richmond Folk Festival
We brought 15 boats to our site on the hill above Tredegar Street, one 40-foot batteau to the Brown’s Island canal, and several live mussels and blue crabs were on hand to help teach visitors about waterways.
Sights & SoundsWhat Can Rivers Teach Us?
Riverlore, the theme for the Virginia Folklife Area at this year’s Richmond Folk Festival, is a word mash-up that invites us to imagine all the complex ways rivers and people …
Sights & SoundsFiddlin’ with the Flow: Old Time Music from the Rivers and Streams of SW Virginia
American rivers often serve as major repositories for local music. There may be no better example than America’s oldest river, the New, that from its tiniest gurgle in the mountains of North Carolina to the loud, raging gorge it has dug in West Virginia, has transported home grown, Appalachian music throughout the South.
Sights & SoundsStories from the Shore
Documenting a Critical Moment on Virginia’s Eastern Shore – The Eastern Shore, the peninsula that buffers the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is predicted to experience some of the most acute effects of climate change in the next fifty years. We’ve been documenting life on the Shore and talking to residents about their memories of growing up there for an oral history initiative called “Eastern Shore Foodways, Community & Climate.” Food traditions may hold answers to a sustainable future for this region with a distinctive, centuries-long culinary history.
Sights & SoundsNow Streaming: Eastern Shore Foodways Audio Doc
Virginia Folklife and With Good Reason radio have released a two-part audio documentary on the past, present, and possibilities of food traditions on Virginia’s Eastern Shore
Sights & SoundsMeet the Artist: Sammy Yates
Back in the steep mountain valleys of Dickenson County in Southwest Virginia, you’ll find the small town of Haysi about 20 minutes from the Kentucky line.
Sights & SoundsRemembering Jimmy Boyd
If you were lucky enough to spend time with Jimmy Boyd, you’d quickly lose track of it. Jimmy was a storyteller who would spin a yarn about the old timers …
Sights & SoundsAmir Kilich, Hayrunisa Yenilmes, Ajinur Setiwaldi & Subhinur Elemin
In this year’s Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, mentor artists Kheyrunnisa and Amir are passing on the rhythms, melodies, and meaning of Uyghur folk music to apprentices Subhinur and Ajinur, building a bridge between generations and homelands.
Sights & SoundsOne Mural, Many Hands: Art, Heritage, and Community in Clintwood
While the nation tuned into protests and parades — and some braced for violence — in the quiet Appalachian town of Clintwood, around a hundred people gathered on June 14 to celebrate something enduring: community.
