Folk & Traditional Arts Mentoring Project grants will be awarded to 13 recipients for the coming year.

The 13 mentoring pairs represent the Wyoming Arts Council’s greatest investment to date in the Folk Art Mentoring Program. In a typical fiscal year, the Wyoming Arts Council awards up to four grants. Additional granting was made possible this year by American Rescue Plan funds, allocated to the Wyoming Arts Council by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Folk Art Mentoring Grants are designed to support the continuation of Wyoming’s folk and traditional arts through the process of in-person, hands-on instruction. A master artist works with a dedicated apprentice from their community to mentor over the course of the project in order to advance the skills of the apprentice in their traditional art form. Projects will run from July 1 through June 30, 2022. The grant amount is $3,000.

The recipients are: 

• John Blair, of Greybull, teaching Matt Avery, of Rozet, the art of Western saddle making. 

• Ernie Marsh, of Lovell, teaching Amy Erickson, of Evanston, the art of bit and spur making.

• Vicki Engavo (Eastern Shoshone) teaching Becky Bercier (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), both of Fort Washakie, the art of eagle feather fan making. 

• Rich Singer (Crow), of Fort Washakie, teaching Winslow Friday (Northern Arapaho), of Lander, the art of bighorn ram’s horn bow making.

• Gloria Runs Close to Lodge-Goggles (Oglala Lakota), of Ethete, teaching Jenn Runs Close to Lodge (Oglala Lakota), of Fort Washakie, the art of traditional Plains Indian women’s dress making.

• Steve Mecum, of Crowheart, teaching Misty Corlett, of Riverton, the art of Western saddle making. 

• Rose Pecos-SunRhodes (Jemez Pueblo) teaching Jayce OldCoyote (Jemez Pueblo/Northern Arapaho/Crow), both of Fort Washakie, the art of traditional Jemez Pueblo pottery.

• Charles Dewey (Northern Arapaho), of Arapahoe, teaching Lynelle Shakespeare (Northern Arapaho), of Riverton, the art of lazy-stitch style beadwork.

• David Osmundsen teaching Lauren Phillips, both of Buffalo, the art of traditional blacksmithing.

• Renee’ Enos-Reed (Eastern Shoshone) teaching DaleRae Green (Eastern Shoshone), both of Fort Washakie, the art of elk teeth trade-cloth dress making. 

• Loree Sanchez, of Cheyenne, teaching Estela Torres Guernsey, of Gillette, Mariachi music.

• Robert Poff teaching Marta Maulik, both of Riverton, the art of leather carving.

• Adam DesRosiers, of Petersburg, Alaska, teaching Kevin Willey, of Sheridan, the art of bladesmithing and Damascus steel. 

Applications were made jointly between master and apprentice, and reviewed by a panel of experts. This year, the panelists included Kaitlyn Berle (folk & traditional arts coordinator, Wisconsin Arts Board); Crystal C’Bearing (deputy director, Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office); Maria Lisa Eastman (cowboy poet and director of Rainhorse Equine Assisted Services); and Andrea Graham (folklife specialist, American Studies, University of Wyoming).

For more information, contact Josh Chrysler at joshua.chrysler@wyo.gov or 307-256-2010, or visit the grants tab at wyomingartscouncil.org.