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]

Other terms that overlap with folk art are naïve art, popular art, outsider art, traditional art and even working class art. As one might 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.

Noted folk artists

* [http://www.parasion.com/ Boleslaw Parasion]
* Grego Anderson
* Elito V. Circa
* Justus DaLee
* William Edmondson
* Tom Every's Forevertron
* Howard Finster
* Chris Flesher
* Josh Goodwin
* Theophilos Hatzimihail
* Edward Hicks
* The Highwaymen (artists)
* David Hostetler
* Clementine Hunter
* Joshua Johnson
* Bob Justin
* Frida Kahlo
* Dóra Keresztes
* Arnold Kramer
* Greer Lankton
* Maud Lewis
* Gertrude Morgan
* Grandma Moses
* Ammi Phillips
* Susan Powers
* Mary Michael Shelley
* Leo Smith
* Jimmy Lee Sudduth
* Edgar Tolson
* Claudia Vecchiarelli
* Enoch Tanner Wickham
* Ruby Williams

See also

* Alebrije
* African folk art
* American Folk Art Museum
* Chinese folk art
* Ex-voto
* Latin American Retablos
* Madhubani painting
* Naïve art
* Outsider Art
* Warli painting
* Yakshagana

References

External links

Museums, festivals and organizations in the U.S.
* [http://www.outsidethelinesstudio.org/ Outside The Lines Studio] Medford, MA.
* [http://www.folkartmarket.org Santa Fe International Folk Art Market]
* [http://www.folkart.org/ The Folk Art Society of America]
* [http://www.folkartmuseum.org/ American Folk Art Museum]

Museums and collections in the U.K.
* [http://www.comptonverney.org.uk/?page=collections/britishFolkArt Compton Verney] has the largest collection of British folk art in the country, acquired for the gallery in 1993 to prevent it being split up and sold abroad

Folk Art
* [http://www.moifa.org/ Museum of International Folk Art] Santa Fe, New Mexico museum with a large collection of folk art from around the world.
* [http://www.whohadada.org/ The Who-Ha Da-DA Outsider Artists Fellowship]
* [http://www.rfag.org/ The Rochester Folk Art Guild] The website for a residential craft community located in upstate New York, specializing in folk art.
* [http://midwestdecoy.org/ Midwest Decoy Collectors Association] The de facto international collectors group.

Indian folk art
* [http://www.21stcenturyindianart.com/folkart.htm Folk Art of India]
* [http://indian-tribal-folk-arts.blogspot.com/ Indian Tribal and Folk Arts]
* [http://indianfolkdesigns.blogspot.com/ Collection of Indian Folk Designs]
* [http://www.kalamadhyam.org/ Kala Madhyam Store - Folk and Tribal Art and Craft]

Research resources
* [http://www.folkvine.org/ Folkvine: Florida's Art and Artists Online] An interactive exploration of folk arts in Florida.
* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Arts.FolkFigures Folk Figures: A Survey of Norwegian and Norwegian-American Artifacts]
* [http://www.southernartistry.org/browse_discipline.cfm?what=Folk%2FTraditional 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
* [http://www.carolinafolk.com Carolina Folk]
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/folk.html Artcyclopedia information] .
* [http://www.rarevisionsroadtrip.com/ Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations]
* [http://www.folkartcanada.ca/ Folk Art Canada] Images, biographies and forums devoted to Canadian folk art.
* [http://www.folk-art-hungary.com/ Folk Arts Hungary] Articles, handmade embroideries dedicated to the Hungarian folk art.
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-68-2389/arts_entertainment/crafts/ CBC Digital Archives – Handmade in Canada: The Art of Craft ]
* [http://www.armacostantiquesshows.com/ Podcast by expert Bev Norwood]
* [http://www.finestfolkart.com/ The Finest Folk Art collection]