The Southern Maryland Folklife Center will present the first annual Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops at St. Mary’s College of Maryland this June 23-25, 2021. Attendance registration is required by visiting https://www.somdfolklife.org/.
During the three-day event, workshops will be offered celebrating and supporting community-based living cultural traditions of Southern Maryland. The workshops will culminate in a public exhibition and celebration event at the College’s Boyden Gallery. Workshops will take place from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. each day. Registration costs are $10 for one workshop, $20 for two workshops and $30 for four workshops. A separate music and dance performance and Historic St. Mary’s City excursion are also available for $10 each.
Choose from an array of folklife workshops:
- SOMD genealogy
- History of wampum
- Contra dance
- History of bluegrass
- Small farm entrepreneurship
- Stuffed ham two-day event
- Landscape painting
- African American hair
- Learn a folksong
This year, the Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops will maintain a hybrid approach with both virtual and in-person offerings. The latter will adhere to the State of Maryland’s guidelines, including face coverings and social distancing. In person workshops will take place at the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium, River Center, Goodpaster Hall and Montgomery Hall on the St. Mary’s College campus, along with Trinity Church Parish Hall.
The summer workshops will be the backbone of the newly formed Southern Maryland Folklife Center, which is part of the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) Folklife Network. This summer’s event is funded by the MSAC’s “Maryland Traditions” program.
For more information, email somdfolklife@gmail.com.
Professor of Art Sue Johnson will be in residence for one-month to carry out collection research for her project, Woman, As Advertised, which focuses on 19th and early 20th century material culture sources for the creation of new works for her on-going project, Hall of Portraits from The History of Machines. She explains the importance of the process of research that informs her creative work that “mining the archive is like building a time machine; I look at the material culture of the past as a way of understanding what has come into being in our contemporary times.“
Professor of Art Carrie Patterson and Assistant Professor of Photography Tristan Cai are 2021 recipients of the Independent Arts Awards presented by the Maryland State Arts Council. In addition to the recognition, both will receive grants to support their continued artistic growth. Patterson will receive a regional grant of $2,000 to recognize promise, and Cai will receive an award of $10,000 to recognize notable artistic achievement.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland was recently awarded a Maryland State Arts Council Folklife Network grant totaling $40,500 to represent Southern Maryland as a Maryland Regional Folklife Center in the Maryland State Arts Council’s Folklife Network. Regional folklife centers serve to continue “programmatic or educational efforts made by an organization to support folklife, or community-based living cultural traditions handed down by example or word of mouth.”
St. Mary’s College alumna Rie Moore ’19 and Professor of Music David Froom have each been awarded Maryland Individual Artist Awards. They were among the 50 award winners (the only two from St. Mary’s County) chosen from more than 250 applicants. Moore was awarded for “promise and innovation” in piano performance, Froom for “notable artistic achievement” in musical composition.
Assistant Professor in Art History Emily Casey has received a short-term fellowship from the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia to conduct research for her book project, “Hydrographic Vision: Imagining the Sea and British America, 1750-1800.”
Sue Johnson, professor of art, is one of ten artists who have been awarded a 
Sue Johnson, professor of art, has been awarded a fully-funded residency fellowship by 
Sue Johnson, professor of art, has been awarded a summer residency fellowship by MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, MA. Selected artists for this highly competitive fellowship program receive private studio space on MASS MoCA’s campus, newly renovated housing, free access to the museum’s galleries throughout the residency, optional financial and business coaching from Assets for Artists staff, and a daily group meal.