Thursday, March 27, 2014

Folk art in Georgia

Each year, my first graders learn a little about folk artists from our state such as Howard Finster and Nellie Mae Rowe. We learned that they came from very large families, lived and worked on farms, had little or no schooling, and taught themselves to make art. They often made pictures of farm life, because it was familiar to them, and they used materials they had on hand rather than buying art supplies at a craft store. Quilting and sewing are also important in folk art - and old clothing and fabrics become repurposed for these. Here are some of our folk art paper quilts and our stitchery. We were proud to learn to thread needles and create stitches!

4 comments:

  1. Love Folk Art and love the Folk Art Quilt designs! Great pieces! :)

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  2. I love folk ark, and these are such beautiful pieces! More people should teach this. I teach pre k and we do lots of art, but for them to understand the meaning behind it, well i think they are little young. even though i sit with them, create art and talk the whole time about it. :)

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    1. Thanks Lori! I think you could do it if you showed them some pictures of farm animals and barns, and talk about artists making art about the world around them. All of the folk artists we studied had the farm life in common. Even if you don't go into the whole meaning of "folk" they will love the chicken/farm subject matter.

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