LEFT: Child's shawl-back rocking chair,
Shaker Community, ca. 1880|
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Collections Seldom Seen |
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Annie Carlano has chosen to organize her group of objects primarily according to the materials out of which they were constructed. We can see how artisans transformed wood, ceramic, metal, glass and grasses and traditional art materials to meet their needs in their respective environments. Native American cultures in the northern regions of the United States and Canada are credited with developing the folk art form of fish decoys. These decoys were carved out of wood and used in the winter for ice fishing in the lakes of northern America. Ice fishing is a labor intensive activity for the hardy that was initiated hundreds of years ago and revitalized in the early 1900's and again during the depression. Fish are carved out of whatever wood is available and embellished with materials such as tin, beads and paint to create tempting prey-like creatures. The fish lure makers created objects that were pleasing to them while considering the perspective fish they wished to capture. After a hole is cut into the ice, tree boughs laid on the ground around it and a teepee or some other type of protective structure erected, a fish lure is lowered into the water. The fisher, lying on the ice, holds a spear in the other hand, ready to impale a live fish. |
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Household tools and furniture were(and are) made
out of wood by people in Europe and America. Shaker communities are notable
for their powerful influence on woodworking technology and design worldwide.
Shakers are the longest surviving communal society in the USA. There is
one remaining living community on Sabbath day Lake, Maine, where two sisters
and three brothers live. The Shaker spiritual aspiration to create heaven
on earth has been channeled into their methods of designing highly efficient
technologies, which synthesize form with function. Flat straw brooms, metal
pen nibs, washing machines and even the circular saw were all introduced
by the Shakers. (In 1810 Tabitha Babbitt of the Harvard Community connected
a round blade to a water-powered machine which greatly improved their ability
to cut lumber. The device was refined and patented in 1816 by a non-Shaker.)
Elements of classical Shaker design, simplicity, lack of ornamentation and
superior craftsmanship, reflect the Shaker belief system, and can be seen
in the child's rocking chair on display. LEFT: Child's shawl-back rocking chair, Shaker Community, ca. 1880| |
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Metal objects on this section of Collections Seldom Seen
include witches knives which connect us with Hans Christian Anderson and
the lore of the northern woods of Europe. According to Tyrolean folklore,
witches could steal children. Witches knives were inscribed with symbols,
stars and moons (usually 9 of them) were circled around the house or babies
cradle nine times while "Witches stay away! Witches do not come here!"
was chanted to insure the safety of the little ones. In the Southern United States, the coastal areas of South
Carolina, to be exact, African Americans use sea grasses to create baskets.
The Gullah people made basket forms in response to the introduction of
rice into the plantation economy. People learned as children how to coil,
sew and stitch the fibers found in their region into baskets and continued
to use and make baskets in small farms run by African American families
after the Civil War. |
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intergenerational transmission of making sea grass baskets combined with
its functionality and aesthetic appeal work together to bring this traditional
art form though the ages and into present day.ABOVE: Gullah basket, South Carolina, 1979 |
Ceramic Forms articulate the voices of their makers. Technique and form
articulate expression in the work of Kate Malone, an English Studio Potter
who uses technically challenging crystalline glazes to coat forms inspired
by nature. Historic and contemporary face jugs created by Anglo and African
Americans animate forms with human features. RIGHT: face jug, South Carolina, ca. 1850 |
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Another expression of the human spirit can be
seen in the two dimensional paper pieces created by "self-taught"
artist who are not considered to be part of the mainstream. These collages,
drawings and one print have been produced by artists who are motivated to
create work that depicts strong elements of their inner experiences. The
artists do not have formal training in recognized art schools and sometimes
are institutionalized or motivated by strong religious beliefs. These works
of art are sometimes labeled as "Outsider Art" "Visionary
Art" or "Vernacular Art" or produced by "self-taught"
artists. The term "Art Brut" was coined by the artists Jean Dubuffet
in the mid-1900's to refer to works that are created by people who may be
dysfunctional in terms of normal social behavior, but whose art work reached
deeply into the realm of the human spirit. LEFT: Self-portrait, Mary T. Smith, Mississippi, 1985 |
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