Ethel Santiago teaching Margaret Cypress sweetgrass basket making

Basket maker

Apprentices

Fieldwork

Teaching of folklore

Basket making

Sweetgrass baskets

Native Americans

Seminole Indians

Ethnicity, Seminole

Material culture

Plants

Three proof sheets with 78 black and white images (plus negatives). Santiago and Cypress were among the first participants in the Florida Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program in 1983-1984. As a master folk artist, Santiago taught Cypress how to make sweetgrass baskets. Images include them gathering sweetgrass, weaving baskets, and of Owen transcribing tapes at the reservation. Traditionally, Seminoles baskets were shallow and woven from palmetto fronds. Circa 1930, sweetgrass baskets, inspired perhaps by African American arts, were designed to represent 'authentic' Seminole culture for the tourist trade. Over time, they became traditional. The Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program began in 1983 with a NEA grant of $22,000. The program provided an opportunity for master folk artists to share technical skills and cultural knowledge with apprentices in order to keep the tradition alive. Apprentices must have had some experience in the tradition and agreed to train for at least six months. The first project director was Blanton Owen,who was later replaced by folklorist Peter Roller. The program was held each year until 2003.

State Archives of Florida, Series S1640

1984-02

Florida Folklife Program

Still Image

S1640

1

2

Photographic prints

Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program

Owen, Blanton, 1945-1998

Santiago, Ethel, 1938-1993

Cypress, Margaret

Owen, Blanton, 1945-1998

Seminole Indian

Native American

1904

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