Living Traditions Craft Demonstrators

The traditional craft artists who participate in Living Traditions are presented under a series of canopies, each with their own workspace, so that they can talk about their work as they show the audience their craftsmanship.  Passed down through generations or learned through apprenticeships, the fine craftmaking demonstrated at Living Traditions represents a continuity in techniques and materials unique to each culture.  Many of the Living Traditions craft demonstrators have won awards for excellence.  The story of how they became interested, how they acquired the skills and where the materials come from is told as each craft artist demonstrates the artform.  Most of the materials used are organic:  fruit, flowers, leather, fiber, clay and so on, and the preparation of the materials is a part of the story as well.

ARMENIAN NEEDLEWORK
Emrazian Family
Salt Lake City
Saturday, CANOPY D
Born and raised in the prosperous city of Aleppo, Syria, sisters Melva Hindoian Emrazian and Rose Hindoian Peterson moved to Utah with their family in the 1960s.  They learned knitting, crocheting lace-making when young and brought these skills with them, continuing to create clothing and fine household linens for both family and friends.  Melva’s daughter, Lena, and her daughter-in-law, Lolita, have both mastered the difficult art of needle lace, distinctive with its use of only needle and thread, and are now teaching their children this beautiful family tradition.

ARMENIAN HAND KNOTTED CARPETS      
George Aposhian Jr.
Diane Moffat
East Millcreek
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, CANOPY C
The Aposhians’ rugmaking history began as part of a family business in Syria. George Aposhian learned to weave rugs from his father, George Sr., and from his grandparents who immigrated to Salt Lake City in the early 1900s. In turn, he has taught his daughter, Diane Moffat, the traditional techniques for stringing a vertical loom and weaving rugs with intricate traditional designs.

BELARUS WOODCARVING (New in 2008)
Nikolay Motro
Salt Lake City
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, CANOPY B
Nikolay Motro was born and raised in Belarus, a former Soviet Republic, where he made his living as an electrical engineer. He learned the skills of woodcarving from a neighbor and researched the various traditional design motifs found throughout his native countryside. Nikolay’s carvings depict faces and figures in both two and three dimensions.  He also creates elaborately carved spoons and picture frames.

BOBBIN LACE
Elizabeth Peterson and Alice Dalton
South Jordan and Murray
Friday & Sunday, CANOPY D
A single piece of bobbin lace can require as many as one hundred bobbins.  This craft involves great patience and coordination, resulting in a decorative and functional artform.  During the nineteenth century, women made bobbin lace as a source of income.  Today lace enthusiasts like Elizabeth Peterson and Alice Dalton enjoy bobbin lacing for its artistry, dedicated to the preservation of this intricate and demanding craft.

BRAIDED WOOL RUGS
Barbara Jones
Layton, UT
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, CANOPY C
Barbara Jones has been braiding rugs for more than twenty-five years, having learned from her neighbor, Kate, the daughter of a pioneer polygamist.  These rugs are created of pre-washed strips of wool.  Barbara is committed to this particular style of braiding rugs and to continuing the tradition through teaching and demonstrating the technique.

CENTRAL AMERICAN FOLK JEWELRY  (New in 2008)
Zulma Arevalo
Salt Lake City
Sunday, Canopy C
Zulma Arevalo is a native of Costa Rica which has a wealth of folk craft traditions.  As a child, she learned to make bracelets out of recycled nylon thread from her brother. This type of jewelry is popular throughout Central and South America where kids teach each other how to incorporate their own names or  the names of tourist attractions. These puseras are worn on both wrists and ankles. Zulma came to Utah five years ago to attend school, and has brought this jewelry tradition with her, using colorful cotton thread to create her puseras.

EUROPEAN-STYLE DECORATED EGGS
Ingrid Hersman
Kearns
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, canopy A
Ingrid grew up in Germany and has always had an affinity for her family’s tradition of decorating eggs.  In more recent years, she has developed a love for batik-dyed eggs, which style is commonly known as Ukrainian. She enjoys teaching both the art and the history of dyed eggs, tied geographically to the rivers and mountains of European regions, rather than to political borders.

EUROPEAN DECORATIVE PAINTING
Hella and Myron Pope
Sandy
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, Canopy A
The decorative painting of furniture and home features with flowers and symbols is a tradition found in many northern and central European countries. During her childhood in Germany, Hella learned this traditional artform of decorative painting and later attended European schools to expand her knowledge and expertise.  Her husband, Myron, creates many of the wood objects she uses as the basis for her styles and designs.

HAWAIIAN LEIS AND CRAFTS
The Ohumukini Family and Halau Hula ‘O Keola
Salt Lake City
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, Canopy c
Hawaiians maintain their cultural heritage through hula schools, or halaus, where history, culture and the ancient arts of music, dancing, chanting and crafts.  Both children and adults are drawn into the activities at the halaus.  Master artist Maurice “Keola” Ohumukini has taught the ancient Hawaiian arts here in Utah for many years and shares them through performances and demonstrations. The lei is the symbol of Hawaiian beauty and hospitality.  Using fresh flowers, vines and the kukui nut, members of Keola’s family and the halau will braid, twine, and string together exotic materials to create leis at Living Traditions.

HOPI KACHINA FIGURES
Earl Denet
Riverton
Saturday & Sunday, Canopy E
Earl Denet grew up on the Hopi reservation in Arizona, and learned early to make kachina dolls with his family, particularly his cousins. He works in a style common a hundred years ago, using a simple pocketknife. His dolls are representations of spirits, given to girls as toys at specific intervals, from birth through maturation, to teach them Hopi religious beliefs and customs.  Earl was recently featured in a video produced by the Utah Museum of Natural History.

IRANIAN CERAMIC FLOWERS
Ferial Rasekhi
Salt Lake City
Friday & Saturday, Canopy D
Ferial and her husband were vacationing in the United States in 1978 when the revolution erupted in Iran. Unable to return home, they stayed in this country and ultimately made their home in Utah. Ferial had learned the delicate craft of Iranian flower-making in Tehran. This traditional art involves shaping ornate clusters of flowers, petals, leaves and buds from flour dough to create head crowns for bridal veils, earrings, pendants and other pieces of jewelry. Ferial continues to make these flower adornments for friends and family, occasionally selling them to others who appreciate their intricacy.

JAPANESE BONSAI
Ken Yamane
Salt Lake City
Friday & Sunday, canopy D
As a teenager, Ken Yamane remembers watching his father tend bonsai plants at home. Later, while serving in the U.S. Air Force, he was stationed in Japan and was given a bonsai plant to tend, which initiated his personal interest in the artform. After retiring from Hill Air Force Base in the late 1980s, Ken decided to spend more time learning and practicing bonsai and since has studied with a recognized bonsai master. His work has been on display at many home and garden shows, various cultural festivals, and at Utah Bonsai Club shows.

JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY
Masami Hayashi
Salt Lake City
Friday & Saturday, canopy A
Using a simple brush and centuries-old writing techniques, Japanese calligraphy incorporates the literal meaning of a symbol with an artist’s personal interpretation of that word or concept. This ancient artform requires years of diligent practice to advance through predetermined stages of accomplishment.  Masami began seriously studying and teaching calligraphy in 1979 after living in Japan for two years. In July of 2004, he completed his formal studies, receiving the highest rank of Dojin from Bokusei-kai of Tokyo, Japan.

JAPANESE TEMARI & BUNKA EMBROIDERY (New in 2008)
Bernice Kida
Salt Lake City
Saturday & Sunday, canopy D
Bernice Kida was born in Utah, spending her school years in Japan when her family returned to their homeland. As a child she learned two artforms – temari and bunka – that later became hallmarks of Japanese identity for Japanese-American women. Temari are colorful decorative objects made by winding yarn in distinctive patterns and designs around a ball-shaped form. Bunka is a pictorial style of embroidery that uses preprinted designs featuring landscapes, animals or flowers and is characterized by dense needleworked embroidery.

JAPANESE ORIGAMI
Judith Iwamoto
Salt Lake City
Friday, canopy A
Judith is a native of Salt Lake City, and can remember as a child seeing origami that her great aunt sent to her grandmother here in the US. Fascinated that a flat piece of paper could be folded into a three-dimensional form, she bought a book and began teaching herself the craft. Today Judith is one of Utah’s most accomplished and enthusiastic proponents of origami. She shares this artform with others at festivals and in classrooms, helping others enjoy the process of creating so many forms from a simple sheet of paper.

MEXICAN PAPER FLOWERS
Dolores Perez and Frances Martinez Dee
Holladay
Friday, Canopy D & Sunday, canopy A
Paper is used in many Mexican crafts includingcandy-filled papier-mâché piñatas, confetti-filled cascarones, design-filled banners called banderolas and bright, colorful flowers like those made by Dolores Perez and her niece, Frances Dee. With family roots in the three hundred year-old Spanish Colonial region of northern New Mexico/southern Colorado and cultural influences from Dolores’ husband’s home state Guadalajara, their prolific and colorful flowers enliven local parties and fiestas while expressing their shared cultural heritage.

NATIVE AMERICAN BEADWORK (New in 2008)
Harold Garcia & Paul LaRose
Salt Lake City & Whiterocks
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, canopy E
Harold “Weaseltail” Garcia and Paul LaRose are two of Utah’s most exceptional beadworkers. Paul is Northern Ute and Harold is part Navajo, Pueblo and Ute. These gentlemen both learned to bead from their grandmothers. Harold and Paul are very knowledgeable about a range of Native American art traditions including hide tanning, quillwork and basketry, as well as historic styles, patterns and forms that often appear in their work.

ORNAMENTAL BLACKSMITHING (New in 2008)
Sergey Sakirkin
Salt Lake City
Saturday & Sunday
Russian blacksmith Sergey Sakirkin is known for his exquisite, hand-forged metal creations. He learned his art in Russian blacksmith shop, working first as a designer then apprenticing as a blacksmith, ultimately specializing in restoration metalwork. Now he works at Heritage Forge in Utah, where he creates custom stairways, railings, gates and furniture and delicate candle holders, sconces and wall decorations that are a testimony to his skills as a designer and craftsman.

PERUVIAN RETABLOS
Jeronimo Lozano
Salt Lake City
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, canopy A
Retablos represent a very old form of three-dimensional art combining sculpture and painting to create mythical or historical scenes. Originally created for Catholic Churches to illustrate scenes from the Bible, retablos are still made today in the high mountain region of Ayacucho, Peru, to depict both historical events and scenes of local culture. Jeronimo Lozano creates his retablos by individually sculpting figures from flour and plaster, combining them to depict religious, cultural or historical scenes from his Peruvian past or to tell stories of his life in Utah.

PUEBLO POTTERY
Katherine and Darrell Poleviyaoma
Kearns
Friday & Sunday, Canopy E
The Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest are famous for their exquisite pottery, typified by  beautiful hand-built pots and small, sculpted animals, all painstakingly decorated using traditional dyes and brushes.  Katherine Poleviyaoma imports clay from her Pueblo home and uses centuries-old techniques to build and decorate her traditional pottery. Her husband, Darrell, has also learned this traditional skill and assists with the production.

RAWHIDE BRAIDING (New in 2008)
Max Godfrey Family
Riverside
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, canopy E
Like his father before him, Max Godfrey spends winter evenings braiding rawhide into horse tack – making reins, bosals and headstalls for those who work on horseback. He takes particular pride in preparing his own rawhide and in testing finished tack on the family ranch before others use it on the range. Max is also an accomplished cowboy singer and poet. His talents and skills are valued by all who hear him perform, by collectors who seek out his rawhide work and by his children who are carrying on the family tradition of rawhide braiding.

RECYCLED METAL ART (New in 2008)
Ed Peterson
West Jordan
Saturday, canopy E
As a child, Ed Peterson was fascinated by tin cans that came with metal keys to open them. He loved twisting the keys together, creating long strips of coiled metal. Years later, while installing floor coverings, he discovered he could easily cut metal with his carpet scissors.  Before long, Ed was gathering leftover cans and scraps of steel or tin, cutting and fashioning them into ornate miniature furniture – chairs, tables, couches, beds and rockers. He continues to explore recycled metal, transforming throw-aways harvested from trash cans into unique and individualized sculptures.

SCOTTISH TARTAN WEAVING
Anne Carroll Gilmour
Park City
Saturday, canopy B
A Scottish tartan is one of the most difficult patterns to weave, and Utah is home to one of America’s finest tartan weavers, Anne Carroll Gilmour. Her family moved from Nova Scotia to the United States, creating the opportunity for Anne, as a young girl, to learn Scottish weaving techniques from master weaver Norman Kennedy. Her passion for this culturally and historically rich artform is shared by her daughter, Lindsay Anne Carroll, who works alongside her mother weaving traditional textiles in many patterns.

SUDANESE CLAY BULLS (New in 2008)
Dominic Raimondo & the Salt Lake DiDinga Community
Salt Lake City
Friday, Canopy e & Saturday, canopy B
Dominic Raimondo and his friends are among the 4,000 young men who have been relocated in the US as a result of ongoing warfare in southern Sudan. Better known by the name of ‘Lost Boys,’ they are members of the DiDinga tribe, a cattle-raising culture. In Sudan, before boys are old enough to take herds out to graze, they learn about cattle culture through play, by making toy bulls from clay and singing songs about bulls. Dominic’s group sculpts bulls to help remember who they are, with the hope that sharing this tradition will help them meet the many challenges they face in their new life.

THAI ART OF CARVING
Amronrat Antczak
Midvale
Friday & Sunday, canopy B
Amronrat was born in Bangkok, Thailand and moved to Utah in 1996. When she was fifteen years old, she entered an art school that specialized in the ancient art of traditional Thai painting. Years later, she applied many of the same skills to master the art of carving fruits and vegetables into flowers and other decorative designs. Today, she has added soap, in addition to fruit, as a more durable material for her carvings. Amronrat enjoys both the aspects of design and unusual materials in carrying on a beautiful tradition from her own heritage.

TIBETAN RUGWEAVING
Sok-Choekore Family
Kearns
Saturday & Sunday, canopy C
Carpetmaking has always been a significant aspect of Tibetan cultural traditions.  Large carpets are used for flooring and smaller ones provide seat cushions and pillows. Karma Sok-Choekore learned to weave pile carpets in a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal after his family fled from Tibet in 1959. He immigrated to Salt Lake in 1992 and was later joined by his wife Sonam, also a carpet weaver, and their four sons. Today the boys are learning the skills and designs of carpet weaving as a way to maintain ties to a homeland that they have never experienced.

TONGAN WOODCARVING
Tonga Uaisele
Salt Lake City
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, canopy B
Tonga began working with wood over forty years ago when he carved two toy pistols for his sons from a coconut palm tree. Having discovered the joy of making something with his own hands, he tried working with harder woods and his work soon evolved into replicas of sea life and representations of deity. Recognized among local Tongans as a master carver, Tonga was recently commissioned to create an altarpiece for the Tongan United Methodist Church in West Valley that was dedicated in a ceremony attended by King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga.

TURKISH CROCHETING (New in 2008)
Hulya Kablan & Nagihan Citir
Salt Lake City
Saturday & Sunday, canopy D
Hulya Kablan and Nagihan Citir immigrated to Utah to accompany their husbands who both teach in Utah schools. women learned traditional Turkish-style crocheting, or dantel, as children. The cultural practice is for Turkish women when first married, to build a dowry of textiles for their daughters’ weddings while simultaneously teaching their daughters to crochet. Now in the United States, both Hulya and Nagihan will continue this tradition by teaching their own daughters this crochet work in traditional colors and designs.

TWINED RAG RUGS
Deeanna Price
Eagle Mountain
Saturday, canopy C
Throughout Utah, making rugs from leftover fabric is a common activity for many families, employing both resourcefulness and skill to create objects of beauty and usefulness. Rugs can woven on looms, braided, crocheted, hooked or twined. Twined rugs, produced on a home-made wooded frame with nails around the perimeter, are the specialty of Deeanna Price who learned this rugmaking tradition from her mother.

WOODCARVING
Ray Kartchner
Sandy
Friday & Sunday, canopy B
Ray Kartchner signed up for a night class in woodcarving and found both an affinity and a talent for this tradition found in many cultures.  He has developed into an accomplished and prolific woorcarver, using a variety of both power and hand tools to capture whatever image or object might be embodied in a specific piece of wood. Ray often carves animals, including a variety of imaginary dragons enjoyed by his grandchildren, elaborate walking canes topped with figures and decorative designs, and spoons with intricately carved Celtic-knot motifs.