About Us
What is Folk Art?
Things people make with their hands
• Sewing – clothing, costumes, regalia
• Fabric construction – spinning, weaving, felting, dyes, rug work
• Crochet, knitting, rope & horsehair work
• Fabric embellishments & embroidery
• Quilting
• Basketmaking & chair weaving
• Beadwork, quillwork
• Musical instrument making
• Pottery
• Folk art, including murals, assemblages & decorative arts
• Stone carving – brick making, architecture
• Woodwork – wood carving, construction, furniture making
• Outdoor skills – Fishing: tying fishing flies, making fishing rods
• Metal & forge work – work tools, objects, horse gear, i.e., spurs, silver & gold work, gun making
• Taxidermy – skins, leather, fur & feathers
• Car detailing (i.e., low riders, campers)
Things people do
• Traditional celebrations & reunions
• Fairs and competitions
• Rodeos
• Memorial & cemetery practices
• Playing music
• Singing
• Old-time dances
• Outdoor activities: hunting, guiding, fishing, hiking, rock climbing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, dogsled races
• Gathering from the wild – foods, Christmas trees, firewood
• Gardening, including herbs & native plants
• Healing & medical plants & herbs
• How we relate to the land – “reading” the landscape, its history
Cookery
• Traditional & holiday foods & meals
• Dutch oven and camp cookery
• Community cookbooks
• Food preservation – drying, canning, other
Occupational practices & traditions
• Ranching traditions
• Sheepherding traditions & sheep wagon construction
• Agriculture – local traditions
• Homemaking
• Other occupational practices
Things people make with words
• Poetry – folk, cowboy poetry, traditional
• Local history, stories & legends
• Storytelling – oral traditions, humor, tall tales
Ethnic & Cultural Groups
• Native American – including native foods & gardens, preparing buffalo hides, teepee construction, dress & decoration, horse racing, traditional Native American art, Native cosmology, petroglyph art
• Mexican/Latino
• Basque – music, dress, food, dance, other traditions
• Europeans & British – Scottish, Irish, Welsh
• Asian communities – i.e., Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, other
• Middle Eastern & Russian cultures
• Black & African American culture
• Religious-based groups – Mormon, Amish, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, other
2-15-2021
For more information: Ellen Sue Blakey ellensb@rtconnect.net