Imagine a village lady following her family tradition of making brightly painted ceramic mermaids from Oaxacan pinched clay. Imagine an unschooled farmer, compelled to grab an old panel, spontaneously smearing it with the mud at his feet or plant material to “paint” his chicken or a magazine image. Imagine well-educated artists creating colorful crayon pictures of childlike houses with picket fences, or applying their training to traditional folk handicraft, creating contemporary fine craft. These are typical creation scenarios for a folk artist, or artist working in an intentional folk style.

In the past decade or two, the term “folk art” has become a catchall for folklike or primitive types of traditional and contemporary art. The term carries a basketful of descriptions—traditional, handcrafted, untrained, simple, naïve, whimsical, colorful, childlike, uncensored, family or ancestral folk traditions, outsider, fanciful, free-spirited, indigenous, purely psychological and personal expression, primitive, self-taught, and spontaneous. People struggle to label art produced by traditional or indigenous methods, or in folklike manners. Here are a few general delineations of the most common labels:

Folk Art — handcrafted artistic objects by self-taught, ordinary people for use in their own homes; frequently functional objects native to a particular region, culture, or people; traditionally learned within the family and handed down (e.g., quilts, weather vanes, weavings)

Outsider Art — pure, uncensored, personal expression of the untrained and self-taught, particularly those who’ve experienced psychological, economic, or social disability, isolating them from the outside world or mainstream; “Outsiders” are compelled by an internal need to create, without knowledge of art

Naïve Art — work created by typically untrained artists within traditions they haven’t yet mastered; “immature fine art” or childlike (i.e., naïve painter Grandma Moses depicted awkward yet realistic detailed scenes of her life)

Popular Art — folk art or fine art replicated and channeled to the consumer through mass production and mass media (e.g., art posters, reproductions, manufactured “tourist art”)

Primitive Art — objects reflect the sacred and communal cultures or pasts of ethnic, tribal, or religious groups; usually connotes anthropological significance (e.g., tribal clothes, masks, icons)

Folk-Spirited Art in Central Texas
White Bird (photo opposite) is primitive and spontaneous; it is art born of purely psychological, raw creative expression. While created by someone who may not recognize it as art, the painting has seemingly intentional strong composition, form, juxtaposition of colors, and a sophisticated woodblock print quality. Institutionalized for chronic schizophrenia at the Austin State Hospital for more than 20 years, Ike E. Morgan is considered a true outsider artist. The schizophrenia and hospital isolated him from the outside world, allowing him to create from his own uncensored internal artistic drive, free of society’s constraints or artistic rules. (See Morgan’s work at Yard Dog Folk Art in Austin, Texas.)

Following the folk traditions of her family, region, culture, and country, famed Mexican ceramist Josefina Aguilar creates colorful, multi-figured scenes of village life and religious events and whimsical, primitive female figures like her naughty “ladies of the night” or her rough, beloved femme fatales of the sea. Mermaid(photo opposite) displays a traditional and common motif in Mexican folk art. Aguilar adorns this archetypal image of femininity with over 30 fantastical sea creatures.

Aguilar’s folk art is truly a multi-generational family affair. Her mother taught Aguilar and her sisters the traditional techniques. Aguilar’s husband, their eight children and respective spouses, and grandchildren all help. While she shapes the primitive figurines in her own likeness, family members dig, prepare, and fire the clay and paint her figurines. Struck by the naïveté, vitality, and personality of the family’s work, famed folk art collectors Alexander Girard and Nelson Rockefeller hungrily collected Aguilar art in the 1960s and 1970s. (See Aguilar’s work at The Turquoise Door in Austin, Texas.)

Quilting tells a cultural and social history of women who shared personal and family stories through their quilts, which they handed down to successive generations with techniques and patterns. Pamela Studstill honors this family tradition: “I learned quilting from my Texas grandmother. She’d send us quilt blocks to work on as kids when we’d move around the country with the military. It was her way of keeping in touch with us.” The vibrating color gradations on Quilt #146 (photo opposite) suggest a landscape amid the abstraction. This “vista” quilt shares her memories of Hill Country vistas she’d see while driving to art classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Studstill utilizes innovative and traditional quilting patterns but handpaints the fabric to intensify colors and patterning. Studstill’s quilts adorn major collections, including the American Craft Museum, Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian Institution. (See Studstill’s work at Local Color Contemporary Art Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas.)

Terrell Powell ’s colorful, whimsical Untitled (photo opposite) neighborhood evokes happy childhood memories with naïve, childlike houses with puffy trees, kitties, suns, stick flowers, and picket fences. He combines his love of folk, naïve, and outsider art with airbrushing techniques perfected in his former career as a well-educated, rule-oriented, professional illustrator to achieve a three-dimensional cut-and-paste effect. His inspiration is the spontaneity, originality, and energy locked into naïve paintings and his children’s art: “Real folk and naïve artists are compelled to create and don’t over-intellectualize their art. Children and naïve artists don’t know rules about art; art flows from them.” In his compelling need to create spontaneously and never rework a piece, Powell becomes the naïve, free-spirited artist. (See Powell’s work at his studio in Austin, Texas.)

Appreciating and Collecting
Folk art by any name is appreciated in Central Texas. Dedicated to the education of folk culture is Austin Friends of Folk Art (www.austinfriendsoffolkart.org), inexhaustible lovers of “art by folk” who coordinate lectures, tours of collections and studios, and field trips.

Folk art frequently appeals to other artists or those with a well-developed interest in art. It’s engaging on a deeply personal level, reminding us of something in our own pasts and people we knew and loved, perhaps providing a primal awareness of where we come from and what we’re about. It allows us to confront and overcome a modern world lacking in the sincere, honest, and intimate connections of a simpler time. Folk art provides a glimpse into localized expression in the everyday lives, culture, and folklore of a people or region. It also suggests a psyche or self-image of a person, region, or country that outsiders or foreigners wouldn’t readily understand. Folk art presents nourishment for the creative spirit in a changing world.

Galleries/Studios Offering Folk Art:
Gallery on the Square
Kerr Arts & Cultural Center
Shorelines Gallery
Terrell Powell Studio
Turquoise Door
Yard Dog Folk Art (see Galleries page for information)

By Anne Gilliam, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history and has worked professionally in the arts and cultural industry for 15 years, in arts administration and policy, marketing and public relations, museums and galleries, and fine arts consulting.

Photos courtesy of Yard Dog Folk Art, The Turquoise Door, Pamela Studstill, and Terrell Powell.