The Smithsonian Folklife Festival

In 2023 I worked on the Smithsonian Folklife Festival as both a production designer and a participant. The 2023 program was called The Ozarks, Faces and Facets of a Region, and I was beyond honored to lend my perspective as a 6th generation Ozarker. 

The research was a joy, site visits with the curators across the region to observe our ozark vernacular architecture, ghost signs, a ballad-off in a holler, a glimpse of the future through a hagstone, a trip to the Ozark Folk Center and so many meticulously laid giraffe stone structures. We gathered in secret spaces to collect  precious Ozark Chinquapin Chestnuts almost all lost to blight, and to learn the art of spoon carving. 

The bulk of my involvement was staying in DC for a month to prepare for and then participate in the Folklife festival. I handlettered 20 signs, painted a nearly 800 square foot mural with my assistant Jennifer Northorp, and sat on a number of panel discussions about what it means to be an Ozarker.

An especially fun collaboration was with my old friends Ozark Beer Company on the official festival beer. The Olivias Folklife IPA was created to celebrate two women bringing the best of cultural heritage to Washington D.C. this Summer, and the 2023 festival celebrates the many different cultures throughout the Ozarks. It’s an honor and a trip to have a beer named after me, and to get to design the label for it!