Folk & Traditional Arts Program

Recognition

Dorothy Trumpold: 2001 National Heritage Fellowship Recipient

Dorothy Trumpold, a rug weaver from East Amana, was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts 2001 National Heritage Fellowship, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Thirteen fellowships, which include a one-time award of $10,000 each, were presented to honorees from 12 states and jurisdictions. Trumpold was chosen for her artistic excellence, authenticity, and contributions to her field.

Weaving for nearly 60 years, Trumpold first watched her grandfather prepare his loom when she was eight years old.The Amana Colonies, known for their religious communal lifestyle, consists of seven villages, each with its own tinsmith, cobbler, basketmaker and furniture maker, while a calico printing factory and two woolen mills served the entire community.

Trumpold is one of the few craftspeople left who represent a link with the old way of life. Her rugs and carpets, which she still weaves on a loom brought to America in the 1840s, exhibit her precise sense of design and her striking textural and chromatic sensitivity. Two of her specialties, the whole house carpet and the stairway carpet, require a mastery of the medium and an exacting consistency in execution.

Her carpets continue to serve the Amana residents in a functional and artistic sense. She has taken it upon herself to pass along these skills to younger people in the community.

"I never advertised, but somehow people found out and I got busy right away and have been busy ever since," she says of her long career.

Since 1982, the NEA has awarded over 248 National Heritage Fellowships. Recipients are nominated, often by members of their own communities, and then judged by a panel on the basis of their continuing artistic accomplishments and contributions as practitioners or teachers. Trumpold joins the ranks of previous Heritage Fellows including bluesman B.B. King, Irish stepdancer Michael Flatley, cowboy poet Wally McRae, and acclaimed performers Shirley Caesar, Doc Watson and Bill Monroe.

Nadjeschda Overgaard:1998 National Heritage Award Recipient

Nadjeschda Overgaard of Kimbalton was the recipient of the country's most prestigious honor in the folk and traditional arts. Given by the National Endowment for the Arts, these fellowships (which include a one-time award of $10,000 each), were shared among 15 master artists in 11 different states. Mrs. Overgaard was recognized for her expertise in Danish traditional arts, particularly hardanger, and for her lifelong dedication in preserving and passing on Danish traditional culture to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and to her community in Western Iowa. According to Mrs. Overgaard, "one does what one should do when the opportunity presents itself so that kids become interested in their community and in the promotion of good things. . . . If you're talented, you owe your community [to contribute]."

Dwight Lamb, Onawa, Iowa: 1998 Arts Build Communities Traditional Artist Award Recipient

Dwight Lamb was one of seven recipients of the 1998 Arts Build Communities Awards. Dwight, an Iowan of Danish descent, plays "old time" music on the fiddle and Danish tunes on button accordion. Lamb is an exemplary master folk/traditional artist, one of the few musicians to carry on the tradition of playing Danish and Scandinavian tunes on the button accordion and fiddle. Dwight is known for his unusual left-handed fiddle style and also for playing the demanding single row 10-button accordion. In 1996 Red Lamb represented Iowa at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. He continues to participate in events for the Iowa Arts Council and he is a Master Fiddler for the Bethel Youth Camp for Fiddlers.