“We had a wonderful time and will use what we learned for Easter holidays. Thank you! Great class!”
“Totally new for me and I was able to do it and have a cool keepsake.”
“Historically, culturally informative and fun!”
“Appreciated the sharing of traditions, and gained a new skill.”
Upcoming Folk & Traditional Arts Classes at Arbutus Folk School:
January 5th through 26th, 2023, 6-9pm: Colors of Heritage and Home: Dyeing Traditions of Finland and the Indigenous Sámi
Coming Soon: Quinault Cedar Bark Roses, Warm Springs Wasco Chokers, Haitian Cooking, and more!
UKRAINIAN PYSANKY, MAY 2021
QUINAULT CEDAR BARK WEAVING & LEGENDS, JUNE 2021
WARM SPRINGS WASCO BUCKSKIN MOCCASINS, JULY 2021
QUINAULT CEDAR BARK WEAVING & LEGENDS, DECEMBER 2021
SOUTH AMERICAN CANTO NUEVO MUSIC, FEBRUARY 2022
MAKAH CEDAR BARK BASKETS, APRIL 2022
MAKAH CEDAR BARK BASKETS, MAY 2022
JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY, JULY 2022
SCOTTISH WAULKING, SEPTEMBER 2022
DYEING TRADITIONS OF FINLAND AND THE SÀMI, JANUARY 2023
Folk & Traditional Arts Instructors
Marja Eloheimo
Marja Eloheimo is a Finnish-American educator, artist, and writer with Sámi ancestry, and is the owner of I Found the Colors, SPC. Marja holds a Ph.D. in environmental anthropology from the University of Washington and an M.A. in arts and psychology from Antioch University. She has explored and taught people-plant relationships (ethnobotany) at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington for over 25 years. After decades of interest in plants as medicine, Marja has fallen in love with creating color from plants through the art of natural dyeing. Join her for a class in January 2023 exploring the color and natural dye traditions of Finland and the Indigenous Sámi of Europe’s far north.
Anne Carroll Gilmour
In September 2022, a very special Scottish Waulking event will be led by artist Anne Carroll Gilmour, who began learning about these traditional songs and methods as a child at her grandfather‘s knee, and with Scottish Master weaver & tradition bearer Norman Kennedy. The weft yarn for the cloth being waulked in this workshop was homegrown and handspun from Anne’s flock of Romney/Corriedale cross sheep, and the cloth was woven by Anne at her home in Ridgefield, WA.
Chiyo Sanada
As an artist, Chiyo’s passion has always been Japanese Calligraphy (Shodo). Shodo is essentially an art of movement, using ink, brush and paper to express thoughts and emotions in characters.
With complete focus, Chiyo imbues each brushstroke of the Japanese characters or “kanji” with meaning, power and rhythm. Chiyo’s goal is to make connections with people from all over the world through her art. Though her primary audience is unfamiliar with Japanese characters, she is known for using color, texture and line to successfully convey emotions and concepts through her art so others can intuitively sense its meaning.
Chiyo is also known for bringing calligraphy “off the page and onto the stage,” with her live calligraphy demonstrations — often performed in conjunction with other Japanese art forms. She has performed with Taiko drummers, “Noh” dancers and Koto players. These dynamic performances result in lasting artworks that reflect and expand on the work of the other performers.
Originally from Hiroshima, Japan, Chiyo began training in Japanese calligraphy at age seven. She started teaching Japanese calligraphy after graduating from Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University in 1995 with a teaching certificate and a degree in Japanese calligraphy. Chiyo regularly shows her work in art exhibitions throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Sin Fronteras
In January and February of 2022, Arbutus Folk School hosted Latin American Folk Music group Sin Fronteras for workshops and a performance that highlighted the canto nuevo musical tradition for all ages. Students participating in the workshops had the opportunity to perform several songs with the band in their culminating concert - Décimas de Violeta Parra, El Aparecido, and Arriba Quemando el Sol.
Based in Seattle, the Sin Fronteras band is comprised of musicians Patricia Mazuela, Abel Rocha, and Diego Coy. Rocha is a Mexican-born vocalist interpreter of son jarocho music and player of the Venezuelan harp and cuatro, the quinta huapanguera, and the guitar. His sound is influenced by Andean, mestizo, and criollo rhythms. Diego Coy, born in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, plays the quena, quenacho, and the zampona in addition to other woodwinds and percussion instruments native to countries in the Andean region. He applies jazz improvisation to traditional music in a unique way. Patricia Mazuela is a musician, playback theater director, and event developer hailing originally from Chile and focused on the nueva canción genre and traditional Latin American rhythms.
Melissa Peterson
Melissa Peterson is a Makah tribal member living on the Makah reservation and weaving Makah traditional & contemporary basket for 53 years. Melissa collects and processes all of the materials used in her basketry. She has been a cultural arts specialist for 40 years, teaching multiple generations, and shares her knowledge with non-tribal folks interested in Makah basketry as well.
Melissa will offer two identical two-day basketmaking classes hosted at Millersylvania State Park in 2022. The first will be offered on April 2nd and 3rd, and the second will be offered on May 7th and 8th. To sign up, click on the link at the top of this webpage. Thank you to Washington State Parks Folk & Traditional Arts Program for their partnership on this program!
Maria and Victor Godines
Maria and Victor Godines led students in creating their own buckskin moccasins in the summer of 2021.
Maria Godines, whose Native American name is Mnuwai Ayat (Kind Woman), has Wasco and Warm Springs tribal roots. She grew up in Portland and now lives on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon.
With her beadwork, she expresses both her cultural heritage and her engagement in contemporary design. As a young girl Maria learned basic sewing techniques from her mother, and when she was six years old, Maria began learning the arts of stringing beads, the peyote stitch, flat beadwork, and looming from an older sister. Since 2007, Maria has participated in Tribal Member Art Exhibits at the Museum of Warm Springs and has received awards for her Wasco Shell Side Purse, her Colombia River Replica Wedding Veil, and her beaded jewelry.
Harvest Moon
In the spring of 2021, Quinault master basketweaver and storyteller Harvest Moon shared about the life, art, and culture of Coastal Salish Natives through song, story, and a bracelet-weaving activity in Priest Point Park. In the winter of 2021 she offered a second class, sharing a legend of The Shy People and leading students in weaving small cedar bark elk.
Harvest Moon has been awarded the Washington State Historical Society’s Peace and Friendship Award, has served two terms as Washington Commission for the Humanities’ Inquiring Mind speaker, and has served as an artist with the Seattle Arts Commission, Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities, and Young Audiences. Learn more at https://iamharvestmoon.com.
Daniela Sipkova Mahoney
In May of 2022, Daniela Mahoney led students in creating pysanky eggs using hot wax in traditional Ukrainian style.
Daniela Šipková Mahoney was born in Prague where she studied international business and foreign languages. She came to the U.S. in 1982. Daniela cherishes her Czech heritage and has developed educational programs emphasizing preservation of cultural crafts.
Every year Daniela travels to U.S. Czech communities to offer classes and lectures on
egg art, paper crafts, glass bead projects and fiber arts inspired by Czech customs and traditions.
Daniela holds a master’s degree in geriatric social work from Portland State University.
Thank you to Northwest Heritage Resources for supporting folk and traditional arts programming at Arbutus Folk School.
Northwest Heritage Resources is a non-profit organization first established in Washington state in 1995. Its mission is to conserve cultural heritage and to present, promote, preserve and document the diverse cultural traditions of the Pacific Northwest.
Read more at http://www.northwestheritageresources.org/
