Ann Porcella
2015-16 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Ann Porcella is a fixture in the Mid-Atlantic’s old-time and country music scene. She is a powerhouse vocalist and a rock-solid country and old-time bass player. Ann’s father was a preacher; growing up, she learned gospel music from him. Her deep, resonant voice adapts well to many different traditional styles, though harmony singing is her...
Arty Hill & the Long Gone Daddys
2013-14 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient San Antonio Express said of Arty Hill, “One of the best country singers going right now is not from Texas or from Tennessee—he’s from Baltimore, and his name is Arty Hill.” While this bit of journalistic phrasing might come as a surprise to Texans, Marylanders know honky-tonk and country music are as native to their...
Carla Tomaszewski
2010-11 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Carla Tomaszewski is a third-generation Polish American who uses dyes, batik (wax resist), etching, and painting to create dazzling designs on fragile eggshells. Called pisanki, these intricately decorated eggs are most commonly found at Easter time; they are associated with birth, new life, and resurrection. Decorating eggs as an ancient symbol of rebirth has roots...
Tebabu Assefa & Sara Mussie
2014-15 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Ethiopian natives Tebabu Assefa and his wife and partner, Sara Mussie, are dedicated to keeping the Ethiopian traditional coffee ceremony alive. Washington, D.C., and vicinity are home to the largest Ethiopian community outside of Ethiopia, and Ethiopian music, arts, and foodways can be found throughout the area. Integral to Ethiopian cultural and social life is...
Shanthi Chandrasekar
2010-11 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Shanthi Chandrasekar is a master Indian kolam painter from North Potomac, Maryland. A kolam is a symmetrical, geometric line drawing that consists of curved loops drawn around dots in a grid pattern. In Sri Lanka and South India, it is widely practiced by Hindu women; Shanthi learned the tradition from her grandmother in Tamil Nadu,...
Ruben Dario Corona & Oliver Trinidad Corona
On the tradition of Dominican barberia, Ruben “Dario” Corona says, “All Dominicans, if they’re not baseball players, they’re barbers.” Cutting hair is universal; in the Dominican Republic, the practice has been elevated to an art. Dominican barbers are known for original haircuts, renowned for using blades to create custom designs. Dario is the proprietor of Dario’s Barbershop in Southeast Baltimore....
Rico Newman
2013-14 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Rico Newman of the Choptico Band of the Piscataway is a master in finger weaving, also known as Indian braiding. Finger weaving is an ancient art of flat braiding that predates the loom. While cultures around the world developed their own variations of finger weaving, Native American peoples in the present-day eastern United States cultivated...
Pete Ross
2009-10 Folklife Apprenticeship Award recipient Pete Ross is a widely respected banjo maker, researcher, and musician. Ross makes gourd banjos, ranging from those of his own design to exact replicas of historic instruments, especially from the colonial era. This is when the instrument first appeared in the Americas, brought by enslaved Africans. His latest creations are inspired by the "classic...
Leonard “Felix” Wills
Once a common site in many American cities, arabbers—street vendors hawking fruits, vegetables, and other household goods from colorful horse-drawn carts—are a rare breed now only found in Baltimore. Their jingling carts and street cries may seem antiquated, but they serve a real and important function: they bring much-needed fresh produce to city residents who otherwise would have little access...
Joseph Kavanagh & Patrick Kavanagh
Joseph Kavanagh and his nephew, Patrick Kavanagh, work together at the Joseph Kavanagh Company, a metal bending and rolling company established in 1866 by Joseph’s great-grandfather, Joseph M. Kavanagh. Today, Joseph owns the company with his brother and sister and is a master of localized annealing, a technique in which a small section of metal is heated and softened for...
