- The Wyoming Arts Council's Folk Art Mentoring Program brings arts and crafts masters together with talented apprentices dedicated to learning critical skills and passing them on when their time comes.

In the first of two parts, we'll learn about the mentors, the apprentices, their art, and their commitments.

I'm Steve Peck of Wyoming PBS.

This is Wyoming Chronicle.

- [Voiceover] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities.

thinkwy.org.

And by the members of the Wyoming PBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.

- Josh Chrysler, welcome.

Thanks for being with us today on Wyoming Chronicle.

The bulk of this show and the one we're going to be doing next week is going to be consumed with watching the short documentaries that accompany an important part of what you do with the Wyoming Arts Council.

Tell us what it's called and what it is briefly.

- Sure.

So the videos that we created are highlighting recipients of our Folk Art Mentoring Grant and this is a grant that we give out every year to applicants who are wanting to share their knowledge of folk and traditional arts with somebody else from their community.

- How long has the program been going on?

- So the Folk Art Mentoring Grant has been running at the Wyoming Arts Council since 2005 and so we're coming up on 20 years here.

- So it's well established and there's an archive of these and you're creating quite a document of this interesting and vital part of our Wyoming history.

- Yeah, I think so.

You know, these folk and traditional arts are really community-based, creative expressions of culture that really show a representation of who Wyomingites are.

- Well let's watch the first one now.

It's about blacksmithing and the participants are Dave and Lauren and enjoy that.

And we'll talk later.

- Why am I so intrigued with blacksmithing?

It's a process that you start with a metal piece and you're able to transform it into anything you can imagine.

I can transform this into a tool, I can transform it into a hammer to then make whatever it is I wanna make.

Whatever you can think of.

And I think it's just a very interesting process to be able to take something like this and with elements such as fire, create something that, whatever you can imagine, I guess.

I was really interested in looking into a earlier dream of mine, which was blacksmithing work.

But I went, when I was at school, I played soccer as well and just didn't have the time or ability to explore that interest.

I started doing some research and looking around for credible individuals that not only wanted to share the skill of blacksmithing but were themselves indulged.

So I've came upon Arrowhead School of Blacksmithing which is Dave's school that he created.

- I've always been interested in the old ways of doing things.

- Yeah, so Dave's been doing blacksmithing for over 40 years.

He was a gunsmith before that.

- When I was building Flintlock rifles, I had a real strong desire to build some of the parts myself by forging them.

And so I had to learn how to do blacksmithing in order to accomplish that.

Once I started learning blacksmithing and realized how broad, what a broad spectrum of things you could do with blacksmithing.

- He has a large, broad understanding of the craft.

He's done work for the White House.

- Well that was a while ago, so I kind of even forget about it and don't bring it up much.

- Dave's so humble that we don't talk about it all the time.

- I like demonstrating for people and answering questions.

I'm known for, I always have an answer for a question, even if I have to make it up.

But I always, you know, if I do make it up, just to keep the conversation going, I always let people know.

- After I completed the classes with Dave, I was in a transition in life and explored being a mentor, and was able to make a transition and move here, and I was in the shop with Dave almost every day.

- I mean we're dealing with a fire that's, you know, in the coal forges, it's over 3000 degrees.

It's pretty hot.

We're holding, in our hands, steel that's heated up to 2000 degrees.

When that hot metal hits the anvil, you better be hammering.

That's not the time to think, that's the time to do.

'Cause you've got a very short span before it cools down to the point where you can't work it and then it's going back in the fire.

Okay, this is where the magic really happens.

Once you take something out of the fire, you're using hammers and punches and chisels and you're using them fairly quickly because that steel cools down fast and once it reaches a certain temperature on the low end it can't be worked anymore.

So it has to go back in the fire.

Reheat and repeat.

As hot as a blacksmith's forge.

I told you I just make up stuff as I go.

A piece of steel that's 70 degrees can look the same as a piece of steel that's 500 degrees.

They won't look any different.

They won't be glowing at that temperature.

It probably won't be smoking or anything just sitting there.

And if you reach over and grab that, 500 degrees is more than your skin can handle.

So you can get some pretty serious burns that way.

So burns and just, you know, you expect some blisters and cuts and abrasions and stuff.

Dressing for the environment's kind of important.

We don't do the kilt thing, or the flip flops or the Crocs or anything like that.

- So it's just starting with an idea and just being able to create the end process.

And with just fire and metal and a few right tools you're able to take a piece of metal and transform it into a beautiful piece of art.

- Let's say first as the, before we see the next film, the director, the filmmaker that helped create these in the field.

What's his name?

- So Mike Vanata was the filmmaker we worked with and he's based out of Laramie.

And yeah, he's done a really good job sort of capturing the essence of what these mentoring relationships look like.

- In the one that we just saw involving Dave and Lauren I was struck, among other things, that Lauren who's the, what would be the word?

The mentee, the protege, the student, so to speak.

Apprentice.

Said she felt so strongly about what the form of blacksmithing could do.

She said you can create anything you can imagine beginning with a piece of metal.

And it's just the- It's not a blank canvas but it's the equivalent of it.

And to her it's the most- The field becomes wide open for her creativity.

And I'm not sure many people would think that about blacksmithing.

- Right, and in fact, I think a lot of times Dave will start his apprentices off with learning how to create the actual tools that they will then use to create for their projects.

- And that's part of the creative endeavor as well.

Blacksmithing of course, at the time, 150 years ago and more throughout most of, much of human civilization, was a big industry really where you had, I know in this country, there must have been tens of thousands of people at one time who were doing it because it was essential.

Now, less so.

So he's- I don't want to use necessarily use the term dying breed but there aren't nearly so many as there used to be.

None of these mentors invented the form, so to speak.

Blacksmithing went on a long, long time before Dave who we just met was doing it.

None of them were born with the skill.

None of them found some instructions in a magazine on how to do it.

They were taught.

They learned at the hand of the master, didn't they?

That's really the only way to do it.

- Yeah, that's right.

And that's something that sets these folk and traditional arts apart from many studio arts for example.

Most of these you're not going to go to college or a four year school to learn how to do these art forms.

They're taught and learned in the context of a community.

So, you know, it's something you might learn from a family member.

Maybe your grandmother, maybe you learn from a neighbor, learn from another community member.

- And an important part of what we just saw in the first film and I think we'll see touched upon again in the others is the necessity and the willingness to ask for help when you want it, when you need it, when you think you're ready to get it.

I believe Lauren said, I found the courage to ask.

That maybe a guy like Dave is someone who you, I'm not sure how I would approach him, if I ought to, and I want to be- Find the courage within myself to do it.

That demonstrates a level of commitment, I suppose.

- Right.

Yeah.

And that's something that we look for from the apprentices when they apply to be part of this program is we wanna make sure that it's something they're committed to, something they're gonna take the knowledge they learn from the mentor and take it into the future.

And a lot of it is getting sort of brought into the cultural context that surrounds the art form as well.

- The next one we're seeing is about saddle-making.

The two on-camera participants are Steve and Misty.

Let's watch that next.

- This is Steve Mecum Saddles and this is my main living at this point.

I've been diversified a lot because I, for a long time I did ride Colts, right when I was learning how to build saddles.

Rode lots of them.

And then did a lot of cowboying and guiding too for elk and sheep hunters, right around Dubois here.

But in between those things I was always building saddles.

It's a patience game.

Big time.

Saddle-making encompasses a lot of things.

Yes, there's important mechanics for horse and rider as far as comfort, how the rigging fits.

You have to know how to make aesthetically pleasing lines when you're cutting parts out.

You have to know how to hand sew.

You have to know human anatomy and horse anatomy.

There's a little more to it than say just building a belt.

Then after all that, if you can learn how to decorate a saddle and really make it pleasing to the eye, that's icing on the cake.

There's lots of saddles being made today, and probably production saddles, people are making more money than me.

'Cause they can- They have big stamps that just click out big parts and it's- You can put 'em together fast.

Where this is all slow, meticulous work and there's lots of parts to building a saddle that's almost like being a surgeon.

To me as far as how particular you want to be, to have it look nice.

- Steve's saddles do stand out.

The seat that he puts in, the smoothness of all of the parts, he pays attention to detail.

So there's a good handful that really appreciate the fine work.

Even under the saddle seat that you can't see, nobody's ever going to see it.

The seat in the saddles that Steve puts in are bar none some of the best.

- And I'm not- I don't need to be standing here looking over her shoulder.

- But you do, because this is the part I haven't done.

- I'm just doing this so I can be on the camera.

- I was really needing some further tutelage and I thought, well, I think that if I could find somebody willing that that would be an avenue to pursue.

- And I said I'd be willing to do it and I'd help her a little bit on other saddles.

This is the most extensive thing we've done together, though.

- That's a little better.

On some of those, I mean.

- Yeah.

- I can see more depth.

It's not perfect, but it's better.

We're shooting for better.

I wasn't at a point where I could come apprentice under him, and so- But now I am.

I furthered my leather knowledge enough, I think, for his tutelage to not go unappreciated for myself.

- She's made huge improvements.

How she sews, how she looks at the mechanics of building a saddle.

- I set myself up for anxiety, but Steve taught me a few things that changed the whole trajectory.

- You know, it was an easy decision to make, and I don't take a lot of students.

I've had 12 or 13 students over the last 15 years but I've also had students that once they found out how hard it was to do, they just quit.

I try to be a little bit more cautious in having a student that wants to continue to pursue it otherwise I feel kind of like I've wasted my time.

But... You know, she's got a strong work ethic and I know she wants to keep doing it.

She's not gonna make as many saddles as me, but that's irrelevant.

But this is working out real good for both of us to be honest with you.

- The saddle that I'm making is for my oldest daughter for her graduation.

And it's really special because Steve gets to be right there in it with me and the saddle gets to stay in the family.

So it's not going outside of the family which is helpful because I can go back to it and say, okay, what did I do here?

What did he tell me on this particular spot?

And I can go back to that and go, okay, I remember.

I can look at my pictures, look at the saddle itself, because it'll be at home and I can keep learning from it.

So that's really, that's kind of a special thing.

And for my daughter, she's been using my saddle and so to have her own saddle and literally to have had Steve build it with me, that's pretty special to her.

- Those were the saddle-makers, I guess they called it saddle-builders.

Steve and Misty.

Josh, what stands out to you from this segment?

- Yeah, one of the sort of interesting things about this to me is sort of the lineage that you see through these traditional arts of knowledge being passed down.

You know, Misty learning from Steve.

And Steve was telling me about how he learned saddle-making from Bob Douglas, who is a well-known saddle-maker in Sheridan.

And Bob learned from Don King, who's another very famous saddle-maker from the Sheridan area.

And so you start seeing these lineages of the tradition being passed down which I think is pretty cool.

- I loved how Steve said it's like being a surgeon in a way, and that's odd.

Of course you are cutting into something that once was living tissue, let's face it.

And there's a precision involved that's just remarkable to watch, isn't there?

- Yeah, there is.

And especially I think he talks about how you have to know human anatomy and horse anatomy to figure out the exact lines that you wanna cut when you're putting these pieces together to make the saddle have the most comfortable fit for you and for the horse.

- Well, a line that I've seen and repeated myself in other fields was, form must follow function.

Yeah, we want it to look great but let's remember, someone's gonna be sitting on this and an animal's gonna be wearing it, so to speak.

- Yeah.

At its core it's a functional art form.

And so the utility has to come first and then the embellishment can come after that.

- The sense of calm, I guess, that they both have, that the mentor certainly does.

I believe Steve said this is a patience game.

You can't hurry it or you just won't get the results.

- Right.

Yeah, it takes time.

And that's what the grant program is sort of designed to do, is to offer time to an apprentice to spend time learning from a mentor.

- So how do the mentors and the apprentices get connected?

Do they necessarily know each other when they apply for the grant or does the grant help them help introduce one to the other?

- The grant application is a joint application which means that they apply together.

So typically they already know each other.

Oftentimes their neighbors or family members.

Sometimes I'll play sort of that matchmaker role a little bit and match somebody who wants to learn up with a mentor artist.

But I think that often it works the best if they already have that relationship with each other going in.

- Interesting to me, in listening to Steve.

He doesn't wanna rank beginner, and Misty already knew a fair amount more than you and I do, I'm sure, about building saddles as she put it, and he brings her to a higher level.

Is that necessarily the case with all of 'em?

Do you want it to be that way or do you make that distinction?

- We usually require the apprentice to have at least a base level understanding from where they're starting that they can build on that foundation.

And sometimes they're, you know, maybe already very experienced in the art form and there's just one specific skill that they really want to hone in on that they'll work on through the apprenticeship.

- Next is a very interesting piece.

The participants are Vicki and Becky and I believe those are mother and daughter.

And they are making ceremonial, ornamental fan.

That's F-A-N.

Fascinating object.

Fascinating procedure.

Let's watch that segment now.

- So the mentorship program that we're working on is fan making and it's the process of learning to make a ceremonial fan from beginning to end.

- Some people call it sewing, some call it bead work, but the purpose of it, I guess, is just to decorate things.

Oh, I can do anything really.

I mean I've done those bands like hers, I've done stuff like this, and I've done Sundance belts, do moccasins and anything.

I mean, we've even beaded on lamps before.

- [Woman] She beaded a clock and sent it to Japan.

- Yeah, I beaded a clock, a fully beaded clock with the numbers and everything in it.

And they went to Japan.

- Our whole community kind of turns to her for info and stuff too.

But she does a lot for our community.

She helps put on meals for our community, feeds our community a lot.

They love her soup and fried bread.

So I got interested in bead work and began one at age 11 and I've been beading since then.

I used to watch my family members, my family members, the elder people in my family bead, and I got interested in it, and I used to bug my mom all the time while she was beading and I'd be over there playing in her beads.

And then she'd be like, whacking at me and stuff, "Get out of that."

And I just kept at it and finally I was like, I wanna try it.

So she started me out and I've been going ever since.

- To me it's a stress reliever.

I can think about things that might be bothering me or, you know, things that I need to work out.

And it helps me think.

Not alone are you concentrating on what you're beading and how your design's gonna come together.

And that kind of takes you away from what's bothering you to begin with.

A lot of it comes from your own desire to do it and having somebody to kind of help you along, you know, tell you how how things are done or try to give you advice on how to do things.

She is working on a fan that will be used for ceremonial purposes.

Well, there's certain significance to different colors that you use.

There's a significance in everything we do and all the colors we use.

- The hunter green represents the plant life.

The white represents the holiness.

The yellow represents the sun.

And then the black represents the people.

- When you sit down to do a piece, whatever you're working on, things come to you, the colors to use, and sometimes you get spiritual help.

Her grandfather is the one who told her to use the colors that she did and he's been gone since 1960.

It's how you're in tune with things in nature and what you're doing.

I'm proud that she's going to carry on, you know, the traditional part of it and she knows the significance of it.

So it's something that, you know, I've tried to instill in my other daughters but they just haven't... grasped.

- It's always amazing to do stuff with my mother because she's not gonna be here forever, you know.

So every opportunity you get, take her up on it.

- Yeah, she gets an A.

- In meeting Vicki, I was touched and moved, and noticed this quiet confidence that she had, which was I can do anything, she said, within her area of expertise which is the beads, the leather, the feathers, the design.

She feels confident she could do whatever anybody needed.

And that's, I guess, maybe one of the marks of a true mentor.

- Sure.

Yeah.

She knows what she's doing and she's looked from her community to provide that service to the community as well.

- There's a sort of a spiritual element that you wanted to make special mention of with this film and maybe a couple of the others.

- Yeah, I just think it's really important to point out the ways that the art form, making these eagle feather fans, it's not art for art's sake.

It has a very specific ceremonial purpose.

It's a sacred art form that they use in ceremony that they use at Sundance, they use in sweats.

And I think that, you know, that separates it from other art forms.

- There's an added element almost of pressure.

This has to be done just right because it's gonna be used in such an important way.

- Well maybe so, and I know Becky, in the application for the grant, she was talking about how making these fans, this is not something that you start out on.

Following the traditional protocol, you have to work your way up until you're sort of able to work on these ceremonial objects.

- So you mean not just in the physical sense of the creating the object, but in the larger sense of recognizing and honoring the value of the ceremony or the event itself.

- Right.

- This is one where Vicki particularly mentioned, going forward from the time when she is not gonna be there to do it.

- Right, yeah.

The responsibility to pass it along.

I think it's, you know, when you learn these things, I think a lot of folks end up feeling that responsibility to carry this traditional knowledge and to make sure that it gets passed on to the next generation.

And that's something we look for in the apprentices often, is that interest in not just learning the art form but finding a way once they learn it from the mentor artist, to eventually become mentors themselves.

- Among the other benefits she found was it made her- It relieved.

It was a stress reliever.

I think is how she put it.

- You know, I think that probably comes from connecting to your culture and I think it's something that can be seen in a lot of art forms, not just folk and traditional arts, but the sort of therapeutic benefits of making art in general.