Portraits of Oregon

• Coos County Portraits
• Jefferson County Portraits

• Josephine County Portraits

• Malheur County Portraits

• Washington County Portraits

• Photo Gallery

• Video Links
• Instructional Material

Portraits of Oregon: Youth Exploring Culture and Community, a pilot project of the Oregon State Extension Service 4-H Program and Oregon Historical Society Folklife Program, received generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Oregon Arts Commission. The project involved 4-H youth and club leaders in a community documentation process that increased their awareness of and interaction with traditional cultures and those who carry on traditions in Oregon.

Participants in five counties ranged in age from 11 to 19 years. They learned folklife and fieldwork strategies including how to do basic interviewint, photography, sound recording, oral history collecting, and video editing and production. (See training manual) After acquiring skills, club members researched local folklife topics such as traditions, customs, festivals, and arts unique to each county.

County participants decided topics they would focus on and produced documentaries on those. The final Portraits of Oregon films were: Coos County Century Farms, Jefferson County ranching related activities (bronco riding, saddle making, wool production, and spinning) and Native American moccasin making at The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Indians Reservation, Josephine County gold mining, woodcarving, logging, wagon restoration, blacksmithing, and farming traditions, Malheur County Basque history and traditions, and Washington County Hispanic foodways, celebrations, and dance traditions.

The Portraits of Oregon project gave 4-H youth a chance to study their local communities' traditions and folklife. The project helped participants increase their self-awareness and cultural sensitivity as they learned about their communities' diverse beliefs, customs, and traditions. Portraits of Oregon also encouraged intergenerational communication by recognizing and acknowledging the important contributions of tradition bearers, past and present, and by linking club members to the keepers of tradition. Portraits of Oregon provided rural counties and underserved populations with resources and training while actively engaging youth in a valuable learning process.

• Three Portraits of Oregon: Youth Exploring Culture and Community films won awards at the 27th Young Peoples Film & Video Festival at the Northwest Film Center:

Tamale Making by Denny Deloya
Aichicha Fred: Basque Rancher by Julie, Elisa and Anne Marie Eiguren
Have You Any Wool? By Kenny Ocker

• The Oregon State University Extension Service give its 2003 Cooperator of the Year award to Folklife Coordinator Carol Spellman, project manager
• Carol Spellman and three club members (Alcides Cerrud, Miguel Cholula and Adan Merecias) of Washington County attended the 2003 American Folklife Society annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico where they presented the Portraits of Oregon project and showed excerpts from their videos.
• The UCLA Vitas and Folklore Film Festival organized by the UCLA World Arts and Culture program aired the Washington County videos at their 2004 event
• The Basque Cultural Society of Ontario provided funds to develop a traveling exhibit for the Malheur County Portraits of Oregon project.

The Portraits of Oregon project was designed as a 4-H Cultural Exploration project. However, it can easily be adapted for other educational uses. This form of community documentation and heritage research can be employed by schools, after-school programs, home schools, as well as by others working with youth programs. Photographs and video projects can be submitted to county fairs within appropriate judging categories. Portraits projects can also be submitted as non-judged educational displays at fairs.