Featured Artist:
Octavia Sexton

---

 

Octavia Sexton is an Appalachian storyteller, writer, teaching artist and a folk artist of the oral tradition. She has received the 2020 South Arts Folk & Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellowship. Octavia Sexton knows life within the Appalachian Mountains well. She attended a one-room school, hauled water from a spring, and used an outhouse. Struggling in poverty for years, she decided to go to college in hopes of breaking the grip of poverty for herself and her family. As a nontraditional student she began studies at Berea College where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History Education and English. She is an Appalachian storyteller, writer, teaching artist and a folk artist of the oral tradition and received the 2020 South Arts Folk & Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellowship. She has published two books of Jack Tales and several storytelling CDs.

A veteran educator in Kentucky schools, Octavia places emphasis on using story to teach. Octavia has experience in leading workshops on creative writing, drama, storytelling, reaching at-risk youth, substance abuse prevention, social and environmental issues and cultural awareness. Her storytelling performances encourage others to express their own creativity and to be proud of their own heritage.

Artist’s statement:

I resent the stereotypes depicting Appalachian people as ignorant, backward, cartoonist characters who talk funny. I tell my stories in the Appalachian dialect because I grew up in the oral tradition and I learned the stories in that dialect. However, I also speak standard English. If we are different in any way, it is that we are rooted in traditions and values passed along to us through the generations. In my performances and teaching, I encourage everyone to be proud of who they are and value the culture they come from. With flesh and blood, heart and soul, I weave my cultural traditions and wisdom into the fabric of the human experience.

 

Octavia Sexton
Orlando, Ky.

Phone:606-256-9796
Email: octaviasexton@windstream.net
Website: www.octaviasexton.com