FOLK ART

'Folk art' describes a wide range of objects that reflect the craft traditions and traditional social values of various social groups. Folk art is generally produced by people who have little or no academic artistic training, nor a desire to emulate "fine art", and use established techniques and styles of a particular region or culture. Along with painting, sculpture, and other decorative art forms, some also consider utilitarian objects such as tools and costume as folk art.West, Shearer (general editor), ''The Bullfinch Guide to Art History'', page 440, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, United Kingdom, 1996. ISBN 0-8212-2137-X
Antique folk art is distinguished from traditional art in that while it is collected today based mostly on its artistic merit; it was never intended as a category to be art for art’s sake. Examples include: weathervanes, old store signs and carved figures, itinerant portraits, carousel horses, fire buckets, painted game boards, cast iron doorstops and many other similar lines of highly collectible "whimsical" antiques.
Characteristically folk art is not influenced by movements in academic or fine art circles, and for the most part, folk art excludes works executed by professional artists and sold as "high art" or "fine art" to the society's art patrons.ibid
The turn of the 21st century saw an increase in work by self-taught folk artists, possibly because of the growing number of retired people with time to spend on new ventures. This 'grassroots art' movement is most visible in the states of Kansas and Wisconsin. The movement has been popularized on public television by the show ''Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations'' produced by KCPT in Kansas City, Missouri.
Other terms that overlap with folk art are naïve art, popular art, outsider art, traditional art and even working class art. As you would expect, all these terms have different connotations; but they are all at times used interchangeably with the term folk art, for which a satisfactory definition has proven hard to come by.

Contents

Displays, museums and festivals

Noted folk artists

See also

References

External links

Displays, museums and festivals

Folk art is seen in folk art museums and folk art festivals in the United States.
The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico has the largest collection of international folk art in the world. FOLK ART is the art of the everyday.
FOLK ART is rooted in traditions that come from community and culture.
FOLK ART expresses cultural identity by conveying shared community values and aesthetics.
FOLK ART encompasses a range of utilitarian and decorative media, including cloth, wood, paper, clay, metal and more. If traditional materials are inaccessible, new materials are often substituted, resulting in contemporary expressions of traditional folk art forms.
FOLK ART reflects traditional art forms of diverse community groups-ethnic, tribal, religious, occupational, geographical, age- or gender-based-who identify with each other and society at large.
FOLK ART is made by individuals whose creative skills convey their community's authentic cultural identity, rather than an individual or idiosyncratic artistic identity.
FOLK ARTISTS traditionally learn skills and techniques through apprenticeships in informal community settings, though they may also be formally educated.
MASTER FOLK ARTISTS demonstrate superior levels of craftsmanship and creativity, often introducing new materials and innovations that express both traditional and contemporary imagery and values. In this way, traditional folk art forms evolve as dynamic living traditions.
FOLK ART fosters connections between art and people with a creative spirit that unites all the cultures of the world.

Noted folk artists

★ Grego Anderson

★ Elito V. Circa

★ Justus DaLee

★ William Edmondson

★ Tom Every's Forevertron

★ Howard Finster

★ Chris Flesher

★ Theophilos Hatzimihail

★ Edward Hicks

★ Clementine Hunter

★ Joshua Johnson

★ Bob Justin

★ Dóra Keresztes

★ Arnold Kramer

★ Maud Lewis

★ Gertrude Morgan

★ Grandma Moses

★ Ammi Phillips

★ Susan Powers

★ Leo Smith

★ Jimmy Lee Sudduth

★ Edgar Tolson

★ Claudia Vecchiarelli

★ Enoch Tanner Wickham

See also

★ Alebrije

★ Alebrije

★ Chinese folk art

★ African Folk Art

★ Ex-voto

★ Latin American Retablos

★ Yakshagana

★ Pseudo naïve art

★ Madhubani painting

★ Warli Painting

★ Outsider Art

References

External links

'Museums, festivals and organizations in the U.S.'

★ [http://www.folkartmarket.org Santa Fe International Folk Art Market}

★ The Folk Art Society of America

★ American Folk Art Museum New York museum specializing in American Folk Art

★ Museum of International Folk Art Santa Fe, New Mexico museum with a large collection of folk art from around the world.

★ The Who-Ha Da-DA Outsider Artists Fellowship

★ The Rochester Folk Art Guild The website for a residential craft community located in upstate New York, specializing in folk art.

★ Midwest Decoy Collectors Association The de facto international collectors group.
'Indian folk art'

★ Folk Art of India

★ Indian Tribal and Folk Arts
'Research resources'

★ Folkvine: Florida's Art and Artists Online An interactive exploration of folk arts in Florida.

★ Folk Figures: A Survey of Norwegian and Norwegian-American Artifacts

★ Contemporary Folk Artists from the Southern United States An adjudicated listing of artists (basketmakers, potters, quilters, storytellers, blues and bluegrass artists) compiled by Southern Arts Federation

★ Artcyclopedia information.

★ Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations

★ Folk Art Canada Images, biographies and forums devoted to Canadian folk art.

★ Folk Arts Hungary Articles, handmade embroideries dedicated to the Hungarian folk art.

★ CBC Digital Archives – Handmade in Canada: The Art of Craft

★ Podcast by expert Bev Norwood