Folk art is described as 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.
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.
[Definition taken from www.wikipedia.org]
I guess as an amateur artist, I identify with folk art’s non-mainstream, non-mass produced nature (if that makes any sense at all). What you see is what you get. Imperfections and all. I’ve always loved the idea of creating something new from already existing materials… making the old new, making the useless useful, and the imperfect beautiful.
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