Wyoming Arts Council Announces Folk Art Mentoring Grant Recipients The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 Folk & Traditional Arts Mentoring Project Grants.

The FY2020 Mentoring Project Grant recipients are: Marcus Dewey (Arapahoe) teaching James Dewey (Casper) the art of Northern Arapaho beadwork and war shirt making; Darrell Lonebear teaching Koleton Lonebear (both of Fort Washakie) Northern Arapaho sweat lodge songs; Jack Mease teaching Soleiana Abernathy (both of Lander) the art of rawhide braiding; and Andy Stevens teaching Dusty Smith (both of Buffalo) the art of Western saddlemaking and leather carving. Folk Art Mentoring Project Grants are designed to support the continuation of Wyoming’s folk and traditional arts through the natural process of in-person, hands-on instruction.

A master artist selects a worthy 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. “The Mentoring Project Grant is a unique program, because it allows us to both honor the masters of these traditional art forms that we have in Wyoming, while also supporting the conservation of those art forms” says Josh Chrysler, Folklorist for the Wyoming Arts Council. “Many art forms are taught and learned through formal or academic processes like MFA programs. However, folk and traditional arts are typically learned through more informal processes such as observation, imitation, and one-on-one apprenticeships. The Folk Art Mentoring Project Grant is designed to create opportunities for those informal, grassroots learning experiences where these art forms are best learned and maintained by the communities from which they come.”  Projects run from July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020 for no less than six months. The grant amount is $3,000 ($2,300 for master artist honorarium and $700 for materials and/or travel). Applications are made jointly between master and apprentice, and were reviewed by a panel of experts.