February 2, 2023
Artesanas Mexicanas
2014-15 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Artesanas Mexicanas is a group of women artisans hailing from Mexico, Ecuador, and El Salvador who now call Southeast Baltimore home. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and operating out of Creative Alliance, a nonprofit arts center, the group honors their shared Latin American heritage by demonstrating, sharing, and teaching Mexican traditional...
January 31, 2023
Josanne Francis Quartet
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, and a resident of Capitol Heights, Josanne Francis blends the sounds of her Caribbean roots with the urban soundscapes of Maryland as well as an eclectic mix of influences from America and abroad, all through the soothing notes of her steel pans. Steel pan emerged on the island of Trinidad and Tobago in...
November 30, 2020
Billy McComiskey & Friends
Billy McComiskey is a world-renowned accordion, or “box,” player and composer. The 1986 All-Ireland senior button accordion champion, Billy is a revered figure in his adopted hometown of Baltimore. Across more than four decades, he has first helped to establish and then to nourish the city’s distinguished Irish music community, playing regularly at local sessions and passing his knowledge on...
Gertie Hurley
Gertie Hurley has made over 10,000 dolls across the past half century. She is literally surrounded by them–upon entering her foyer, visitors are greeted by a life-size doll and its smaller companions as if arriving at a surprise party. An entrepreneur as well as an education and healthy-living advocate, Hurley champions the many benefits of Black cloth dolls. Handmade white...
Gwen Handler & Winnie Dreier
Learning to knit as a young child from her own mother, Gwen Handler is now a master wool worker, an occupational tradition that has been practiced in Maryland for several centuries. Brought to the region in the 17th century from the British Isles, wool work was practiced throughout present-day Maryland and passed down through the generations. It is believed that...
Habitat for Humanity of Wicomico County
From the days of community barn raisings to 20th-century AmeriCorps programs and faith-based disaster relief efforts, people have come together to volunteer their time and labor to work in service of others. With a vision for “a world where everyone has a decent place to live,” Habitat for Humanity carries this tradition forward through its own model: combining long-standing ideals of...
Joanne Guilfoil
Ocean City is one of the mid-Atlantic’s signature summer vacation destinations, with a major annual impact on Maryland’s tourism economy and workforce. Located on the city’s famed boardwalk, Trimper’s Rides and Amusement Park is a cherished institution, drawing visitors old and new each year to enjoy its classic rides–a Ferris wheel, bumper cars, and a carousel featuring a menagerie of...
Johnson Bay Oyster Company
For centuries, oysters have been one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most iconic species, and one of Maryland’s most valuable commercial fisheries. They have sustained communities of watermen and their families around the state for generations, resulting in maritime heritage that is deeply embedded along Maryland’s shorelines. Methods for harvesting oysters have changed with the times, and today the Johnson Bay...
Mark Wiest
Ships Ahoy! Owner of Deadrise Maritime, Mark Wiest is a skilled and talented shipwright and furniture maker. A resident of Tilghman Island, Wiest is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of the maritime cultural heritage of commercial fishing families along the Eastern Shore. Expressing this desire, he explained that he started as a home carpenter and is “passionate about working...
Nuri Auger
Nuri Auger had her first experience making a kebaya as a 16-year-old bridesmaid, when she was trained by family members in their traditional village using the same skills they learned from their ancestors. Now residing in Baltimore, Auger is a master kebaya maker who maintains an abiding passion for this elegant, quintessentially Indonesian textile tradition. The kebaya, a long piece...
