Menu Expand Menu Close
Back to Top
Filter Search Expand Close Filter
Search Expand Search Close
["Susan Feller, 63 at the time of this interview, lives in Hampshire County, West Virginia with her partner Jim in the log home they built. With a degree in Art and History from UMass/Boston and a life-long interest in handwork craft, she learned to rug hook in 1994, a medium allowing her to paint with wool. This skill was the entry into the niche market of rug hookingdesigning patterns, selling hand-dyed wool, and teaching as far away as Australia, throughout the US and Canada. These days, Feller works in her studio creating fiber art for the walls. Juried as a Tamarack gallery artist, and a recipient of a purchase award from the WV Division of Culture and History, she serves on the Board of Directors for Tamarack Foundation for the Arts and The River House board in Capon Bridge, networking with and advocating for artists in the state and beyond.Read her piece on the West Virginia Folklife blog about the McDonald sisters: https://wvfolklife.org/2018/05/15/textile-artist-susan-feller-on-the-mcdonald-sisters-of-gilmer-county/Susan Fellers website: https://artwools.com/"]%

1. Blanche McDonald on cover of first Hearth and Fair, the precursor to Goldenseal Magazine

Identifier:
4224.FellerSusan.Photo.001.4.12.18
Title:
Blanche McDonald on cover of first Hearth and Fair, the precursor to Goldenseal Magazine
Date:
2018-04-12
Creator:
Feller, Susan L.
Subject:
Fiberwork, Gilmer County (W. Va.), Embroidery, Rugs, Hooked, Textile crafts
Location:
Gilmer County (W. Va.)
["Susan Feller, 63 at the time of this interview, lives in Hampshire County, West Virginia with her partner Jim in the log home they built. With a degree in Art and History from UMass/Boston and a life-long interest in handwork craft, she learned to rug hook in 1994, a medium allowing her to paint with wool. This skill was the entry into the niche market of rug hookingdesigning patterns, selling hand-dyed wool, and teaching as far away as Australia, throughout the US and Canada. These days, Feller works in her studio creating fiber art for the walls. Juried as a Tamarack gallery artist, and a recipient of a purchase award from the WV Division of Culture and History, she serves on the Board of Directors for Tamarack Foundation for the Arts and The River House board in Capon Bridge, networking with and advocating for artists in the state and beyond.Read her piece on the West Virginia Folklife blog about the McDonald sisters: https://wvfolklife.org/2018/05/15/textile-artist-susan-feller-on-the-mcdonald-sisters-of-gilmer-county/Susan Fellers website: https://artwools.com/"]%

2. Susan Feller at the McDonald sisters’ grave in Gilmer County

Identifier:
4224.FellerSusan.Photo.001.5.17.13
Title:
Susan Feller at the McDonald sisters’ grave in Gilmer County
Date:
2013-05-17
Creator:
Feller, Susan L.
Subject:
Gilmer County (W. Va.), Textile crafts, Embroidery, Fiberwork, Rugs, Hooked
Location:
Gilmer County (W. Va.)

Listen to Audio

3. Oral history of Phyllis Marks

Identifier:
4224.MarksPhyllis.AudioInt.4.22.16
Title:
Oral history of Phyllis Marks
Date:
2016-04-22
Creator:
Marks, Phyllis
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Storytelling, Ballads, Folk music--West Virginia, Old-time music, Working class families, Irish Americans
Location:
Glenville (W. Va.), Gilmer County (W. Va.)
["Phyllis Marks (June 5, 1927-June 22, 2019) was born Phyllis Mariam Frashure on June 5, 1927, in Sand Fork, Gilmer County, WV. According to folklorist Gerry Milnes, Marks was the last active ballad singer in the state who, as she says, learned by heart, via oral transmission, mainly from her mother and grandmother, both of Irish ancestry. Since 1954, Phyllis performed annually at the West Virginia State Folk Festival at Glenville. A fixture at the festival and in her community, the 2005 festival was dedicated to her.Marks was recorded in 1978 for the Library of Congress and has been featured in various books and radio programs. In 1997, she worked with Gerry Milnes to release the Augusta Heritage album Phyllis Marks: Old-Time Songs of West Virginia.In 2016, the West Virginia Folklife Program received a Henry Reed Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to host and record a concert with Marks at the West Virginia Humanities Council. Read more about that concert here: https://wvfolklife.org/2016/10/03/i-think-that-the-women-made-the-folk-songs-phyllis-marks-in-concert/Materials from that concert are available via the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center in the Emily Hilliard collection on West Virginia ballad singer Phyllis Marks: https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2017655418&searchType=1&permalink=yRead our tribute to Phyllis Marks on the West Virginia Folklife blog: https://wvfolklife.org/2019/07/02/a-tribute-to-ballad-singer-phyllis-marks-june-51927-june-22-2019/Interviewers notes:I went to interview 88-year old ballad singer Phyllis Marks at her home in Glenville, WV. Folklorist Gerry Milnes believes Marks to be the last living ballad singer in the state who learned her repertoire via oral transmission. Marks is blind and was accompanied by her dog. She said she was hoarse today, but would sing for me another time."]%

4. Transcript of oral history of Phyllis Marks

Identifier:
4224.MarksPhyllis.IntTranscript4.22.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Phyllis Marks
Date:
2016-04-22
Creator:
Marks, Phyllis
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Irish Americans, Ballads, Working class families, Storytelling, Folk music--West Virginia, Old-time music
Location:
Gilmer County (W. Va.), Glenville (W. Va.)