Monday 26 May 2014

British Folk Art exhibition @ Tate Britain

British Folk Art, 10 June - 31 August (Link)

A wonderful new exhibition is starting soon at Tate Britain in London - I can't wait! Alongside the exhibition there is also a whole host of courses, workshops and talks on folk art throughout June and July, which include collage, embroidery and knife-carving.

Goose Woman by George Smart c1840

From The Tate website:
Steeped in tradition and often created by self-taught artists and artisans, the often humble but always remarkable objects in this exhibition include everything from ships’ figureheads to quirky shop signs, Toby jugs to elaborately crafted quilts.
You will find an intricate sculpture of a cockerel, made out of mutton bones by French POWs during the Napoleonic wars. There is a larger-than-life-size figure of King Alfred made out of thatch. There are examples of the mysterious ‘god in a bottle’ – votive offerings suspended in bottles of clear liquid – as well as naïve paintings, tin trays covered with ornate fragments of crockery and much more besides. The show exemplifies the energy, variety and idiosyncracy of British Folk Art.
Folk art has often been neglected in the story of British art: by uncovering this treasure trove of folk art objects, this exhibition asks why.