Tramp art describes a particular type of wood carving practiced in the United States and Europe between the 1880s and 1940s in which discarded cigar boxes and fruit crates were notched and layered to make a variety of domestic objects. These were primarily boxes and frames in addition to small private altars, crosses, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture. Whittling objects such as chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common hobby -- including among rail-riding hobos -- and for many years tramp art was believed to have been made by these itinerants as well. Although this notion has been widely dispelled, the name has stuck. In recent years efforts have been made to identify makers by name and reveal their stories. While some examples of tramp art may be attributed to itinerants, this carving style was more commonly a practice of working-class men creating functional objects for their households. The book presents over one hundred and fifty tramp art objects collected mainly from the United States and also including pieces from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil -- demonstrating the far reach this art form has had. It includes works by contemporary artists, thus establishing tramp art as an ongoing folk art form rather than a vestige of the past. The pieces reproduced here reveal an artistic and intricate sensibility applied to each handcrafted piece. Essays consider assumptions about tramp art related to class, quality, and the anonymity of its makers and examine this practice through the lens of home and family while tracing its relationship to the tobacco industry. The book will cultivate an appreciation of an art form that is as thought-provoking as it is enduring.

The Art Institute of Chicago is home to one of the world's finest collections of American folk art. For Kith and Kin provides an introduction to that collection through more than sixty of its most outstanding objects. Selected by premier American art scholar Judith A. Barter, the majority of these objects have never before been published. In a groundbreaking opening essay, Barter revisits the earliest days of folk-art collecting in Chicago, beginning in the 1890s. She pays special attention to the passionate individuals who sought out unique and expressive examples of American folk art, building private collections that they later donated to the Art Institute. Including beautiful reproductions and detailed entries for each of the sixty-one objects it features, this book highlights an array of masterworks such as "primitive" New England portraits, a face jug from South Carolina, New Mexican ceramics, a weathervane, and ship figureheads. Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago

The creative accomplishments of the Andean people of the highland region of South America are prominent among the folk art legacies of the world. This wide-ranging publication, examining over 850 works, is the first to present an overview of the religious, textile, costume, utilitarian, and festival folk arts made in the Andes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after the Andeans were free from Spanish colonial rule. The author offers an understanding of the development of folk art during the colonial period and shows how much of the work produced after independence reflects the interweaving of indigenous craft traditions with European art forms and techniques. Drawing from the renowned collection at the Museum of International Folk Art and other private and public collections in the United States, this book includes religious paintings, sculptures, portable altars, milagros, amulets, and ritual offerings. Traditional hand woven ponchos, mantles, belts, and bags are shown, along with women's skirts, hats, and shawls adapted from the Spanish. Jewellery, wooden trunks, silverwork, majolica ceramics, carved gourds, house blessing ornaments, and toys reveal not only the craftsmanship of the work, but the ways the objects function in everyday life. Also explored are Andean festival cycles Kith lavish costumes and a variety of masks. With over 400 colour photographs, this monumental book provides a window into the rich spirit and culture of the Andeans. Published to coincide with an exhibition to open at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in April 2011.

Thirty illustrated essays highlighting a variety of Detroit artists. Essay'd 2: 30 Detroit Artists follows the welcome reception of last year's Essay'd: 30 Detroit Artists in presenting short, illustrated essays about artists who live and work in Detroit, or who have participated in the Detroit art scene in an important way. Stemming from the popular website of the same name, the first volume of Essay'd sought to introduce readers, even those who are well versed in the Detroit art ecosystem, to new insight and a fresh perspective on the city's contemporary art practitioners. The four arts writers behind Essay'd-a professor, a gallerist, and two critics-are joined in Essay'd 2 by a handful of guest writers, whose unique views offer different points of access to Detroit's diverse and populous artist community. Essay'd 2 offers thirty new profiles of artists both well known and under the radar, seasoned and emerging. Advancing the argument that there are as many kinds of Detroit art as there are individual artists, the authors write about work created in a wide range of media, from painting, photography, ceramics, and textiles to performance, installation, and architectural intervention, produced in a kaleidoscopic array of individual styles. Some of the artists this volume highlights include S. Kay Young, an attendee of the College for Creative Studies with a thirty-year photography career; multimedia artist Adam Lee Miller, who is one half of the band ADULT; fiber artist and 2015 Kresge fellow Carole Harris; and master staff carver/mosaicist David Philpot. While Detroit has long been home to a storied and industrious community of artists, there has been relatively little writing that explores, analyzes, and contextualizes their work. Now, with renewed regional, national, and international attention being paid to Detroit and its creative culture, it is more important than ever that the evolving and vital work of the city's artists be documented and made known to the wider public. The new essays collected here, written in a format that is at once in-depth and accessible, continue the authors' ongoing mission to introduce the Detroit art community to the world, one artist at a time. Art lovers and regional history buffs will appreciate this continued conversation.

Les temps anciens Thessalos fils du legendaire Hercule cherchant fortune arriva dans notre contree. Comme il venait de traverser la vallee de Tempi, la ou vivait Appolon le Dieu de la Lumiere avec sa bien aimee Daphnee, il a vu tout emerveille de s'etendre devant lui une plaine toute verte. Il ne s'imaginait pas qu'on marchant a cote de l'eau argente de la riviere de Penee il venait d' arriver a sa destination. Sur ses rives, depuis 4000 ans existe la ville de Laisse batie par le legendaire Larissos. A sa droite Olympe s'erigeait jusqu'aux nuages, residence de douze dieux. A sa gauche Ossa une montagne en forme pyramidale. Autrefois sur le sommet les geants Otos et Ephialtis ait entasse Pelion, parce qu'ils voulaient detroner Jupiter d'Olympe. Plus au fond d'autres montagnes bien hautes s'elevaient et se perdaient dans les nuages. La chaine de montagnes de Pinde ou selon la legende est nee Penee de ses larmes au moment ou les dieux voulaient la separer de son epoux Ligo parce qu'ils enviaient leur bonheur. Je veux rester ici, pensa-t-il.Ce pays merveilleux aura comme nom Thessalie Le conte commence ici Bonsoir mes amis N'importe quelle pierre tu bouges une histoire est cachee, n'importe quelle branche tu souleves elle aura un conte a te raconter. Un conte pareil on l'ecoutait aussi narre par notre grand pere et notre mere lorsqu' on etait des enfants: Alors, un jeune homme semblant a nous, cherchant sa fortune il a appris une langue extraordinaire La langue des grenouilles Lui sera-t-elle utile ou pas? Qui sait Mais n'importe quoi que l'homme apprenne a faire c'est utile, disait notre grand pere. "Apprends un metier, oublie le mais quand tu auras faim exerce le," dit un proverbe grec.

Since its origins in 1967, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has gained worldwide recognition as a model for the research and public presentation of living cultural heritage and the advocacy of cultural democracy. Festival curators play a major role in interpreting the Festival's principles and shaping its practices. Curatorial Conversations brings together for the first time in one volume the combined expertise of the Festival's curatorial staff-past and present-in examining the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's representation practices and their critical implications for issues of intangible cultural heritage policy, competing globalisms, cultural tourism, sustainable development and environment, and cultural pluralism and identity. In the volume, edited by the staff curators Olivia Cadaval, Sojin Kim, and Diana Baird N'Diaye, contributors examine how Festival principles, philosophical underpinnings, and claims have evolved, and address broader debates on cultural representation from their own experience. This book represents the first concerted project by Smithsonian staff curators to examine systematically the Festival's institutional values as they have evolved over time and to address broader debates on cultural representation based on their own experiences at the Festival.

How creations welded from the scrapheap have become a folk art rage

"Muffler men are the cigar-store Indians of the late 20th century, trade figures made to stand in front of shops to advertise what is sold inside. Both are considered forms of folk art, but the skinny metal figures with shimmering muffler heads and torsos and pipe-thin legs found outside auto repair shops are wittier, more imaginative and flamboyantly painted. . . ." -Rita Reif, "The New York Times"

Art can appear in the most unexpected places. Muffler men, for example, have become one of the most striking and remarkable of recent folk art creations. From Walla Walla to Daytona quirky mannikins constructed from discarded automobile mufflers are popping up across America. Cobbled together as business signposts, these comical sculptures are sprouting outside automotive repair shops everywhere.

Car debris harmonizes with human anatomy as rusty cast-offs assume a new identity as savvy "objets d'art." Signage turns into art as mechanics fashion cowboys, dogs, robots, space aliens, and a host of other creatures from metal scraps of the profession and with the aid of their workaday tools and acetylene.

If for only a passing moment, the muffler men enliven the roadside and help to break up the monotony of daily commutes. More than mere advertisements, they interact with their communities by greeting the passerby. The significance of muffler sculptures turns profound when they become local celebrities and are hailed as community landmarks.

But what do they mean? For the creative mechanic who made them they are exclamatory signposts and store mascots. For the academic folklorists who analyze them they are symbolic icons with cultural meanings that proclaim individual identity and group membership. For the collectors who treasure them they are exemplars of "outsider art." For most nonspecialists who wave as they speed past they are funky delights.

This colorful book documents the widespread appeal of muffler men as a form of occupational art that enriches the workplace, the local environment, and now the art gallery.

Timothy Corrigan Correll is a folklorist whose research focuses on material behavior and folk belief. Patrick Arthur Polk serves as the museum scientist and archivist for the UCLA Folklore and Mythology Archives.

Baskets made of baleen, the fibrous substance found in the mouths of plankton-eating whales-a malleable and durable material that once had commercial uses equivalent to those of plastics today-were first created by Alaska Natives in the early years of the twentieth century. Because they were made for the tourist trade, they were initially disdained by scholars and collectors, but today they have joined other art forms as a highly prized symbol of native identity. Baskets of exquisite workmanship, often topped with fanciful ivory carvings, have been created for almost a century, contributing significantly to the livelihood of their makers in the Arctic villages of Barrow, Point Hope, Wainwright, and Point Lay, Alaska. Baleen Basketry of the North Alaskan Eskimo, originally published in 1983, was the first book on this unusual basket form. In this completely redesigned edition, it remains the most informative work on baleen baskets, covering their history, characteristics, and construction, as well as profiling their makers. Illustrations of the basketmakers at work and line drawings showing the methods of construction are a charming addition to this book, which belongs in the library of all those with an interest in the art of basketry and in Alaskan Native arts in general.

Este es el primero de una serie de libros para colorear 'YO SOY' para ninos de todas las edades, creado en colaboracion por James Roderick y Naomi Lake. Su trabajo se enfoca hacia balancear la Femineidad Divina dentro de nuestra sociedad de hoy. Este libro para colorear, YO SOY la Diosa es nuestra contribucion a incrementar la presencia y vigencia de la Femineidad Divina. Al dar color a estas paginas, usted y sus hijos invitan e invocan la esencia de la Femineidad Divina. Me fascina como este librito puede cultivar una conexion unica con cada Diosa. Zana Hart, Autora, Editora, Bibliotecaria. Una magnifica introduccion para ninos al papel esencial de la feminidad eterna en todas las culturas en la evolucion de la humanidad. Philip Incao, M.D.

Come possono convivere gli sfortunati amori di Stendhal con il mostro di via Bagnera, le leggende sulla nascita di Milano con i sanbabilini che, nel 1975, assassinarono la povera Olga Julia Calzoni, Luciano Lutring detto il solista del mitra con la monaca di Monza? Si puo raccontare la metropoli lombarda e le sue mille contraddizioni, seguendo il filo eclettico delle infinite vicende che si sono dipanate nelle sue trafficate strade? Gli autori di questo libro, forti dell'esperienza maturata con Citta Nascosta Milano (riuscita nel sorprendente intento di portare migliaia di persone a spasso, alla scoperta degli angoli piu sconosciuti della citta) pensano sia possibile. Muniti di comode scarpe e di pochi stereotipi culturali, accompagnano i lettori in un percorso alla scoperta di Milano, mettendo insieme, in un gustoso confronto, i casi di cronaca nera (Luca Steffenoni) e le bellezze artistiche (Manuela Alessandra Filippi). Due punti di vista che si alternano e spesso polemizzano con disincantato humour, yin e yang, maschile e femminile, luce ed ombra o, se preferite, due emuli della Strana coppia, che battibeccano nel tentativo di raccontare Milano a modo loro. Un libro su Milano ma non solo. La metropoli lombarda, infatti, fa da sfondo ad un caleidoscopio di vicende volutamente mescolate, ad una jam session d'umanita che fornisce una lente d'ingrandimento attraverso la quale e possibile osservare le nevrosi e le contraddizioni comuni ad ogni grande citta.

Since the fourteenth century, Eastern Woodlands tribes have used delicate purple and white shells called "wampum" to form intricately woven belts. These wampum belts depict significant moments in the lives of the people who make up the tribes, portraying everything from weddings to treaties. Wampum belts can be used as a form of currency, but they are primarily used as a means to record significant oral narratives for future generations. In Reading the Wampum, Kelsey provides the first academic consideration of the ways in which these sacred belts are reinterpreted into current Haudenosaunee tradition. While Kelsey explores the aesthetic appeal of the belts, she also provides insightful analysis of how readings of wampum belts can change our understanding of specific treaty rights and land exchanges. Kelsey shows how contemporary Iroquois intellectuals and artists adapt and reconsider these traditional belts in new and innovative ways. Reading the Wampum conveys the vitality and continuance of wampum traditions in Iroquois art, literature, and community, suggesting that wampum narratives pervade and reappear in new guises with each new generation.

Este es el segundo de una serie de libros para colorear de "YO SOY" para ninos de todas las edades creado por James Roderick y Naomi Lake. Este libro "I AM" para colorear de Guadalupe es nuestra contribucion a incrementar la presencia y vigencia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Al dar color a estas paginas, usted y sus hijos invitan e invocan la esencia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Hemos creado este libro para colorear de "I AM" de Guadalupe con el mayor respeto y admiracion hacia Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe con el humilde deseo de traerla mas cerca a nuestros corazones.

Folk art is one of the American South's most significant areas of creative achievement, and this comprehensive yet accessible reference details that achievement from the sixteenth century through the present. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture explores the many forms of aesthetic expression that have characterised southern folk art, including the work of self-taught artists, as well as the South's complex relationship to national patterns of folk art collecting. Fifty-two thematic essays examine subjects ranging from colonial portraiture, Moravian material culture, and southern folk pottery to the South's rich quilt-making traditions, memory painting, and African American vernacular art, and 211 topical essays include profiles of major folk and self-taught artists in the region.

Florencio Morales (1949-1992), a Mexican immigrant and Los Angeles artist who fashioned elaborate assemblages in his front yard, was known as "el hombre de las banderas" ("the man of the flags") because he always flew American, Mexican, and California flags over his home.Illustrated with color photographs that show the brilliance of his art, this vibrant book explores and documents Morale's creative expression as he commemorated a profusion of Mexican and American holidays throughout the year. Over a period of twelve years until his death he created exhibits for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Valentine's day, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, the anniversary of the Treaty of Teoloyucan (August 13), and Mexican Independence Day. These displays served as settings for extravagant and spirited celebrations within the local community. Created from "found" materials and from bits and pieces gathered from scores of sources, Morales's assemblages intrigued and stimulated his audiences. His yard served as gathering places where strangers and friends could interact.In ritual, folk art, legends, beliefs, foodways, and music, his yard exhibits express the vitality of Mexican folklore adapted to a new setting, urban Los Angeles. By drawing upon dynamic symbols from his heritage and combining elements from American and Mexican culture, Morales communicated his dual identity.In acknowledging the artist's influences, motivations, and aesthetics, this fascinating book provides a rich understanding of the man and his art, as well as the interplay between the artist, his creations, and the community.

Macedonian ethnic dress is full of meaning and significance. It is visually stunning and embodies the skills, expectations, hopes and fears, creative use of materials, and aesthetic sense of the individuals who made and wore it. Saturated with cultural meaning, these many-layered ensembles rank among the best examples of textile art anywhere. This landmark catalog brings together scholarship by Macedonian experts with a museum collection in the United States and outstanding photography to present treasures of Macedonian dress from 1880 to 1950. Essays on embroidery, materials of dress, techniques of production, and hair dressing illuminate the complexities that existed in this small country at the crossroads of civilizations. The legacy of Macedonian women's hands and minds will live on in this volume for future generations to admire.

Like many other veterans of the Vietnam conflict, Michael Cousino, a disabled former Marine from Gouverneur, New York, continues to struggle with bad memories and daily life adjustments. Unlike many other veterans, he has found an outlet for his frustrations and grief. He creates miniature replicas of his Vietnam experiences. In these astonishingly detailed dioramas, he recalls scenes of battle and related episodes that reflect his life of some thirty years ago. His dioramas are on a 1:35 scale, replete with intricacies that grip his painful past. He began this work in 1983, as he says, "to keep from going bonkers when I couldn't find a job." Having completed more than two hundred dioramas, no two alike and none ever for sale, Cousino has represented firefights, POW camps, torture pits, and ambushes. This unique art serves both Cousino and an appreciative audience. For him it is both therapeutic and didactic. For those who see his dioramas, there is aesthetic understanding and interaction. In sharing and interacting, Cousino has made his art an essential part of folk expression. This book features his unusual art in 36 pages of color photographs by Martha Cooper.