Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Art at the Airport - American Folk Art at SFO Museum

SFO Museum - American Folk Art sign bw
I was at SFO recently to drop-off  Mijo for his trip abroad. While waiting for him to finish check-in, I had time to walk around the International terminal and had an enjoyable time looking at the airport's art displays about American Folk Art near Gate A. 




I didn't really know what folk art means so I looked up online.  According to the Museum of International Folk Art, folk art is the art of everyday. Even with that definition I just learned that evening, I still didn't have an idea what sort of art is folk art until I browsed through SFO Museum's exhibit.
SFO Museum - American Folk Art exhibit

I learned that folk art, unlike fine art, is for practical purposes. It is utilitarian and decorative rather than purely for aesthetics. It is usually made by master crafts and trades people and it is rooted in the local culture and traditions with techniques and styles passed from one generation to the next.

Growing up in a small town in the Philippines, I remember seeing a few pictorial needlework, pictorial wood carvings, domestic kitchenwares, and whimsey bottles depicting local life and thinking how traditional, odd looking, too-Filipino looking they were because I didn't have an appreciation for folk arts at that age. Now that I am older, I now wonder whether there are genuine folk arts still being created today with local traditions being diluted due to globalization, internet and social media. I wonder if a so called local style still exists? I can only hope.

Here are the ones on display when I was there.  
It was educational to view these folk arts depicting the regions in the U.S.A. where they were made and the styles of that time. 

The American Flag
SFO Museum - American Folk Art The American Flag 

Duck Decoys.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Duck Decoys 

Domestic Kitchen wares.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Domestic Kitchenwares 

Windvanes.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Animal Weathervanes 

School children's copybook.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Children's Copybook 

Carved Stone books.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Carved Stone Books 

Southern Folk Pottery.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Southern Folk Pottery 

Pictorial Wood Carving.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Pictorial woodcarving 

Pennsylvania Pottery
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Pennsylvania Pottery 

Pennsylvania German Furnishings.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Pennsylvania German Furnishing 

Maritime Folk Art.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Maritime Folk Art 

Fraternal Folk Art.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Fraternal Folkart 

Fraktur.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Fraktur 

Folk Houses.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Folkhouses 

Whimsey bottles.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Whimsey Bottles 

Windvanes.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Weathervanes 

The Bald Eagle
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art The Bald Eagle 

   
Samplers and pictorial needle work.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Samples and Needlework 

Presidential Folk Art.
  SFO Museum - American Folk Art Presidential Folkart

The American Folk Art exhibit is on display through July 15, 2018. It is located at the International Terminal near Gate A.

~rl


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