Old-Time Fiddler Joe Dawson Passes

We are saddened to hear of the passing of old-time fiddler Joe Dawson of Bloomington. He grew up in Axsom Branch, a region in Brown County, which has since been nearly forgotten after being cleared to build the Monroe Reservoir. While Joe first learned to play tunes in this rural community, it was later in life that he attracted the attention of old-time musicians in Bloomington, where he hosted a weekly music jam in his home. Over the years, hundreds of players passed through his living room trying to learn the distinctly local tunes in the elderly player’s repertoire. Up to the end, music and musician friends were around the player. Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet became like family to him; helping to organize the jams, taking him to doctor’s appointments, and checking in on him. Here is a video of Grey and Cindy talking about Joe, and playing a few tunes from his repertoire:

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TAI Webinar: WordPress for Traditional Musicians and Folk Artists

Update: This webinar has been postponed to May 22 at 5:00 p.m. so we can better prepare ourselves to present after wrapping up the spring semester. Hope you can join us!

We’re glad to announce the next Traditional Arts Indiana webinar! Join us on Wednesday, May 9, at 5 p.m. in the usual location of http://breeze.iu.edu/tai_webinars to learn about “Wordpress for Traditional Musicians and Folk Artists”.

Jon KayTAl Director Jon Kay is our host for this webinar, and he will present on Wordpress, which is a free website content management system. He’ll explain the simple way to construct a professional-looking website utilizing this resource, and the many free plugins and add-ons that have been developed for easy website development.

Jon will focus on the strategies for developing content-rich sites that can help traditional artists and musicians reach a wider audience. From e-newsletters, blogs and embedded audio and video, he will show you how to make the most of this simple ... Read full post

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Webinar recording access: Social Networking for Artists and Performers

Social Networking for Artists and PerformersThe latest Traditional Arts Indiana webinar, “Social Networking for Artists and Performers: Developing and Maintaining an Online Presence”, is available as a video recording at: http://connect.iu.edu/p6upmf4ohax/.

When you click the link, you will be taken to a new window that shows everything exactly as it happened. You can watch this video at any time to see how social media can help professionalize your folk practice, whether it’s weaving, pottery, or – as it is with our friend and host, Geoff Davis – woodcarving.

Wordpress, Facebook, Twitter, and Etsy: these are just a few of the topics Geoff covered in his roughly 50-minute talk. There’s plenty to learn and explore in this presentation, so be sure to take advantage.

As we drift closer to the sultry summer months here in Bloomington, we will be continuing to think about new webinar topics. If you have ... Read full post

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Upcoming Event: A Fieldworker’s Tale – The Architecture & History Of The Whitewater River Valley

Come learn about the folk architecture of Franklin County, Indiana! Traditional Arts Indiana is excited to host A Fieldworker’s Tale – The Architecture & History Of The Whitewater River Valley, a special lecture by nationally known vernacular architecture scholar Dr. Thomas Carter.

On Friday, April 20 at 7pm, Carter will present a entertaining and informative lecture about his years of studying the vernacular architecture of Indiana’s White River Valley.  This evening talk is free and open to the public and will take place at the Brookville Depot Building at the Whitewater Gateway Park, in Metamora, IN.

Then, on Saturday, April 21, Carter will lead a day-long workshop (10am-4pm) on documenting and learning from historic buildings.  Participants will learn to record a house with photographs and measured drawings. Students will gain valuable information about making site plans, floor plans, details, and elevations.

No artistic talent is necessary. Tape measure and drawing boards provided.

Preregistration for the workshop is required. To sign up contact Jeff Kuehl at the ... Read full post

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Bloomington Handmade Market

Spring is in the air and the warm weather brings with it the semi-annual Bloomington Handmade Market! Homespun items, from fragrant soaps to screen-printed T-shirts, from hand-beaded jewelry to local artwork from repurposed goods, are just some of the offerings for sale. The event will be held at the Bloomington Convention Center (in the Mariott Courtyard) on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To find out more about the weekend’s event and about Bloomington’s crafty vendors, visit: http://www.bloomingtonhandmademarket.com/about.html. ... Read full post

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Second Servings Podcast Episode 4: Morel Mushrooms

The morel mushroom fruits in the spring, signaling a Hoosier tradition of hunting the wooded areas of the state for these elusive fungi.  Though serious morel hunters can be cagey to newcomers, the activity has inspired a lively folklore.

Morel lovers congregate for group hunts, festivals, clubs, and via online message boards and social media to trade outlandish hunting methods and rumored fertile hunt spots.

Lengthy foraging for this rare mushroom pays off, as it is a prized culinary treat – as good deep fried in a simple egg batter as it is sautéed with truffle oil on top a pasta dish.

Brown County State Park interpretive naturalist Jim Eagleman gives us some background on the park’s morel festival, Steve Russell of the Hoosier Mushroom Society shares his favorite cooking methods, and Ron Kerner of IndianaMushrooms.com is kind enough to give us some hunting tips.

For more information:

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Social Networking for Artists and Performers: Developing and Maintaining an Online Presence

Want to use social media — sign up for a Facebook page, begin to tweet, start a blog — to promote your work, but don’t quite know how? Feel like what you’re already doing isn’t quite enough? Join TAI and Hamilton County artist and social networking afficionado Geoff Davis online on April 5 at 4:30 p.m. EDT (UTC−04:00) for our next webinar.

Davis, a woodcarver, musician, and educator, will introduce sites and explain how to use them, describe the best methods for attracting more fans and followers, and explain new opportunities to sell work online. In addition to covering the basics, Davis will also introduce new tools to improve what artists are already doing.

The webinar will last approximately an hour, including time devoted to answering questions. As always, this webinar is free and open to the public. To join, participants should have access a computer with working ... Read full post

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TAI at Patoka Lake’s Welcome Back Weekend

Join TAI at Patoka Lake State Recreation Area on Saturday, May 5 as we kick off our partnership with Indiana State Parks.  This event will feature demonstrations and performances by community members including:

Grease Gravy (Orange County) – String Band
String band Grease Gravy emerges from the music making of longtime friends and neighbors in Orange County.  Their love of music connects them with family, local community, and the life of the region.  Beginning in their youth, the members of Grease Gravy learned and shared music as a form of fellowship with those living around them.

Larry Haycraft (Pike County) – Hoop Net Maker
Larry Haycraft is a fourth-generation hoop net maker in Petersburg, Indiana.  From the time he was young, Haycraft worked to master the art ... Read full post

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Second Servings Podcast Episode 3: Hoosier Homebrew

Homebrewed beer is one of the oldest cottage industries and has become a popular practice in Indiana with rise of homebrew social clubs. We talk to Hoosier homebrewers to hear their stories of malting mayhem, hoppy accidents, and brew-ins—the social gatherings where people brew and share their suds.

Veteran brewer Dibbs Harting tells about the history and culture of home-crafted beer, beer enthusiast Rick Stidham relates the appeal of making beer from scratch, and Chadd Powell, the president of the Bloomington Hop Jockeys, discusses the community surrounding homebrew hobbyists. We also head down to Floyd County to sample beers with the F.O.S.S.I.L.S. homebrew club and to talk to member Dennis Stockslager about the brewing process from barley to bottle.

For more information:

Second Servings is an original podcast series, produced by ... Read full post

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Second Servings Podcast Episode 2: Turtle Soup

A staple at church socials and fall festivals in DuBois County, turtle soup is typically made in large batches, reflecting the community aspect of the dish. Government regulations concerning the sale of wild game means that the recipe is often of the “mock turtle” variety, but its unmistakable taste luckily comes more from the pickling spices than the type of meat used. Turtle soup aficionados sometimes practice “turtle noodling,” catching turtles by hand in muskrat holes by water sources.

We visited folks at a number of restaurants and diners that serve variations on this regional dish, including Fleig’s Cafe, the Ferdy Flyer, and Heichelbech’s Restaurant & Bar, all located in Dubois County.

Second Servings is an original podcast series, produced by Traditional Arts Indiana (TAI), that explores and documents the distinctive food traditions of Indiana, the communities that uphold them, and the individuals who practice them. Second Servings focuses on Indiana’s foodways and is one of TAI’s latest public programming initiatives to showcase the community, ... Read full post

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