What defines folk art? Find out in this fusion of words, poetry, and interactive exercises that introduce children to the imagination and freedom of America’s finest folk art—and all its possibilities. After the performance, explore the galleries and see everyday objects in a whole new way. You’ll never guess all the materials you can re-invent as art. Gallery guides provided.

A Closer Look – About the Performance:

In this exciting interactive performance and gallery experience by master educators of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and Discovery Theater, audiences meet and explore the imaginative, inventive, edgy and always amazing world of everyday people breaking through to create world class art. First a 25 minute show with audience participation examines what it takes to see and make art from the outside; and then on to the galleries to find the art we have seen up close and in person, with SAAM docents to enliven and educate.

Folk Art is a mix of imagination and freedom of expression, using familiar materials in sometimes exotic and fascinating ways to make a unique artistic statement, one outside any category or school of artistic work. The immediacy of the artworks often makes us feel “I could do that!” or makes us ask ourselves “Why didn’t I think of that?” It is an excellent entry point for young people into the sometimes daunting world of art and art history. The history of this art lies in the lives of everyday people of every heritage expressing their humanity in art.

At the newly renovated McEvoy Auditorium in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, audiences will experience a program introducing this wonderful and wild world of Folk Art through power point images, interactive exercises and theatrical presentation. Then docents will lead students into two amazing galleries to meet the art in person in a specially designed tour of selected works. Teachers receive follow-up classroom activities and materials from the educators of the Smithsonian Art Museum to extend the reach of the visit.

What is the ‘ART’ of Folk Art?

From the wire scorpions crafted by a street vender for Oaxacan tourists to museum-resident oils created by a historically renowned painter, the works of creative people find a special place in our lives. Artists bring their own experience to bear in their work. And each beholder brings his or her experience in reacting to the creative process.

In Folk Art, an artist untrained in classical technique takes up materials close at hand in his or her life, and creates. The vibrant, brash, startlingly beautiful work they produce is classified as ‘folk art’; art of the people. This art does not exist in an ivory tower, although sometimes an ivory tower might be made out of aluminum foil! Or in actuality, a 6’ altar— an extraordinary sculpture which will be seen after the performance in the SAAM folk art gallery, made entirely from crumpled foil. Folk Art comes from our own very ethnic and cultural group in the US: and each shows the American spirit of imaginative invention and individualism. These art works tell us that we all can be visionaries, and that anyone can make ‘good art’.

For more information, visit the website:
americanart.si.edu/collections/collection-pioneering.cfm


About the Meet the Museum Series: