Description
Book SynopsisThrough fascinating profiles of five National Heritage Fellows, folklorist Alan Govenar celebrates the cultural democracy that is America — and honors the endurance of traditional crafts and methods.In bustling midtown Manhattan, Qi Shu Fang applies the elaborate makeup and headwear required for her role as a Chinese opera singer, an impressive art she learned in her native Beijing. Overlooking a quiet little garden in Nyssa, Oregon, Eva Castellanoz starts her day as a maker of paper-and-wax coronas, delicate tissue-paper flower wreaths she learned to make in Mexico, her childhood home. Meanwhile, Ralph W. Stanley keeps the craft of boat building alive in his coastal Maine town, and Dorothy Trumpold carries on the rug-weaving technique her grandfather taught her in Amana, Iowa. And for fifty-two years, the late Allison Tootie Montana designed magnificent beaded-and-feathered regalia to show off as Mardi Gras Indian suits.
Each of these artists is a rec
