Stone Soup
Folk Artists of the Region
April 12 through July 8, 2005 in the Frame Shop Gallery

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People have always used folk arts as a way of expressing and celebrating their common identity. Unlike sophisticated, self-standing works such as symphonies or easel paintings, folk arts have historically had a direct here-and-now application, be it the design on pottery or textiles, icons for religious meditation, or a dance to initiate youth into adulthood. Whereas typical fine art is defined by specialization and virtuosity, the nexus of folk art is community participation.

The Erie Art Museum is proud to be in its 3rd year as a Regional Folk Art Support Center. Along with four other organizations across Pennsylvania such as Rivers of Steel and the Philadelphia Folklore Project, the museum's role is to expand awareness and participation of the folk and traditional arts within the regions.

Museum Folk Art Coordinator Kelly Armor has discovered that our region is home to numerous fine folk artists, many of them recent refugees. These artists learned their craft not through formal instruction but by observation and apprenticeship within their communities. The show encompasses a broad range of media and materials, including wood, textiles, and paintings. Among the featured objects are mandolins by the nationally respected Lou Stiver of Polk, PA, copper repoussé by Aleksandr Sisov, formerly of Russia, African Shuluk beadwork by Fatim Athow, traditional Asian paintings by Esther Sung Hong, and crochet and embroidery by Suzan Majok of Sudan.

The Regional Folk Art Support Center Project is funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts