Two Lovers of Folk Art
While doing some research for a new client this week, I was reminded of two favorite books about folk art and how useful and inspiring they have been to me over time.
Both The Spirit of Folk Art by Henry Glassie and The Extraordinary in the Ordinary edited by Mary Hunt Kahlenberg speak of collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico (ah, the Folk Art Museum–a little bit of heaven on earth!) and address the much debated definition of folk art.
The books discuss two great lovers and collectors of folk art and how they became seduced by folk art and how they made their personal selections. According to Lloyd Cotsen, the objects…”speak of extraordinary beauty with an inner capacity to bring a sense of joy and fulfillment to my eye and heart.”
Henry Glassie interacting with the Alexander Girard collection at the Museum says “As the incarnation of the excellence of different cultures, art is the ideal resource for the person who would understand human unity and diversity. (Folk art provides) encounters that excite, confuse and nudge us toward knowledge.”
These two statements together eloquently provide the two different paths that led me to a love of folk art.
One of our favorite places in the world is the International Museum of Folk Art in Santa Fe. We never get tired of it.