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