Two Marylanders are the recipients of 2019 National Heritage Fellowships, an award given annually by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for artistic excellence and outstanding support of the folk and traditional arts. The Maryland recipients are wildfowl decoy carver Rich Smoker of Somerset County and storyteller Mama Linda Goss of Baltimore City. They are among only nine recipients chosen from across the country.

Smoker, originally from Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, has spent 50 years creating decoys. His work encompasses the functional, or “working” duck decoys traditionally used by sportsmen during hunting trips on marshes, rivers, and other waterways, as well as the more decorative pieces that fully display his deep knowledge of avian musculature, plumage, and behavior. Smoker is highly recognized in his artistic community, having received a 2008 world title for working decoys from the Ward Foundation, two Apprenticeship Grants and a Heritage Award from the Maryland Traditions state folklife program, and hundreds of trophies and ribbons. In addition to extensive volunteer service for organizations promoting decoy carving and cultural heritage, Smoker is chairman of the board of directors at the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University.

Goss, a Tennessee native who spent many years in Philadelphia before making her home in Baltimore, is steeped in the storytelling traditions of African American culture, which encompass folk tales, praise songs, call-and-response narratives, singing, and a host of other verbal art forms. She is the co-founder of the National Association of Black Storytellers, which she founded in Baltimore in 1982 with Mother Mary Carter Smith. A dedicated tradition bearer and the author of seven books, Goss is commonly honored with the moniker Mama Linda by friends and colleagues. She is the recipient of two Maryland Traditions Apprenticeship Grants, along with a recent Project Grant award in aid of How I Got Over, an oral history documentation of African American life and culture in and around Baltimore. Mama Linda produced How I Got Over in collaboration with The Peale Center in Baltimore.

“Our hearts are full knowing that Mama Linda and Rich are receiving our nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts,” said Chad Buterbaugh, director of Maryland Traditions. “We do all we can to support our tradition bearers at the state level. To see them honored at the national level is truly exhilarating.”

Smoker and Goss will each receive a $25,000 award and be honored this fall at public events in Washington, D.C. An award presentation ceremony will be hosted Sept. 18 at the Library of Congress, and a performance and demonstration event will be hosted Sept. 20 at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall. Both events are free and open to the public. For further details, visit the NEA website.

 

Left: Storyteller Mama Linda Goss of Baltimore City. Right: Decoy carver Rich Smoker of Somerset County. Photos by Edwin Remsberg Photographs.

 

Billy McComiskey

Button Accordion, Irish music

Parkville, MD

 

A. Michael "Mike" Vlahovich

Shipwright and Maritime Culture Advocate

St. Michaels, MD/Tacoma, Washington

 

 

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