Let's leave aside the part about what is ART and get down to the nitty gritty: What is FOLK  ART?

Folk Art, sometimes called Outsider Art, usually means art made by someone not trained as an artist. Because the art world is full of nuances and distinctions (and also fakes and impostors) we may have to stick with that.  OK, maybe we need to agree that art is anything made by a person and called art by that person or someone else.  This lets in a lot of junk, but nobody said we were going to be able to tell you the difference between Good and Bad art. Broadly stated, Art is whatever someone calls art, unless you disagree, in which case it is Not Art.

Uh-oh, let's get back to Folk Art fast

Folk art trditionally uses materials not specifically designed for artistic purposes, such as plywood, house paint, tools, sticks, rocks, and other found materials.  One pleasing definition is the rendering of sophisticated themes or subjects in an unsophisticated way.  Others would suggest that certain subjects are classic folk art- crows being a good example.  The Outsider end of Folk Art also includes Visionary Artists, who are sometimes called Crazy People, though not by me. Religious themes, especially the struggle between Good and Evil and  Divine Intervention are frequent themes of Folk Art, though, come to think of it, they are fairly popular among the Great Masters, too.

Most people have an idealized notion of the Folk Artist, as a kind of Noble Savage, or Holy Fool who makes art purely for its own sake, and  some of the best folk art does come from people who seem to fit these categories. However,  by the time a person has sold more than about three pictures or works of art, he or she has usually decided that making money is at least one  reason to keep on doing it. And then there is the attention. Surprisingly, though, the ambitions of many folk artists, commercial or otherwise, are usually excusably modest.

"Self taught" is a term sometimes used to describe folk artists, but it fails because nearly every artist has ultimately been his or her  own teacher.   And many an outsider or  folk artist has begun with some basic instruction before venturing into other territory. Another thing that happens is the artist who may be relatively sophisticated in certain aspects of life (cell phones and computers, for example) but may not have any  knowledge of artistic technique beyond what he or she has figured out alone.  Can you be a folk artist and get eMails?  Is a satellite dish OK if you only use it to watch wrestling?

Do you see where this leads?  This line of  discussion has gotten on the wrong track because it tries to focus on the Folk Artist rather than on the Folk Art. This leads to a definition that includes ALL ART MADE BY PEOPLE WHO AREN'T AS SMART OR URBANE AS I AM.  And that's a pretty condescending way to treat something as noble as art, or the people who try to make it.

Let us return, then, to the idea of Folk Art as being made without the contaminating influence of  Academic Art. Since much of the current thinking in Art Education seems to be that actual literal representation is Not Good, then, maybe Folk Art includes the literal.   And there is very little abstract folk art being sold these days, though, presumably every time a person goes from I could do That to See What I did,  even if the result is abstract, it is technically folk art, too.

Had enough confusion? Let's recap and wrap, then:

    Little or no Formal Training

    Little or no influence of Academic Art

    Non-Traditional materials

    Typical subjects

    Holy Fools and Noble Savages

    Ideas better developed  than techniques

I hope you have found this guide to be useful, if not exactly definitive. Perhaps you will have to apply the test usually associated with a different topic: "I know it when I see it". I hope you will check out my other guides, too.

Take Care,

WT