(New York, New York) (updated 6/27/2022) – Launched as part of its 60th-anniversary activities, and in partnership with over a dozen cultural organizations across the United States, the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) has organized a traveling tour of four self-originated exhibitions—all of which are drawn from the Museum’s collection.
From the spring of 2021 through June 2024, these exhibitions will open at museums located in Florida, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, Indiana, Kansas, New York, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maine, and Mississippi. Each exhibition will feature a variety of works of historic folk art and modern and contemporary self-taught art.
“As we celebrate the American Folk Art Museum’s 60th anniversary from our home in New York, we’re thrilled to share our collection with organizations and audiences across the United States,” said Jason T. Busch, Director and CEO. “AFAM represents the creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of self-taught artists across time and place, many of whom have made an impact on the cultural and artistic histories of America from the eighteenth century to the present.”
The coordinating curator for the tour is Emelie Gevalt, AFAM’s Curator of Folk Art. Gevalt commented: “Sharing scholarship with colleagues and the public has been a vital part of the Museum’s mission for 60 years. These compelling exhibitions will connect the Museum’s collection to new audiences, significantly expanding the nationwide appreciation of art.”
The Museum wishes to thank curators Stacy C. Hollander, Sarah Marglois-Pineo, and Aimee Newell, each of whom played a significant role in organizing these exhibitions.
Upcoming exhibitions and venus are noted below.
American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Collection
The exhibition features over 80 objects, from paintings and pottery, to quilts, needlework, and sculpture. These artworks span the entirety of our nation’s history, offering first-hand testimony to the people, places, and events that have defined and shaped American culture.
Asheville Museum of Art: June 18, 2022–September 5, 2022
The Frick Pittsburgh: October 15, 2022–January 8, 2023
The Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine: February 1, 2023 – May 7, 2023
Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee: July 30, 2023 – October 8, 2023
Wall Power! Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum Collection
Ranging across time and place from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries, from Alabama to Pennsylvania, this exhibition highlights quilts from a period of craft revival designs developed by Amish communities, examples by African American makers, and traditional patterns that formed a foundation for generations of quiltmakers to come.
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York: October 9, 2022 – January 22, 2023
Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts
Spanning the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, this exhibition invites the public to read quilts as maps, tracing the paths of individual histories that illuminate larger historic events and cultural trends. The tour of Handstitched Worlds was organized with the support of International Art and Artists.
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana: June 18, 2022 – September 11, 2022
Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum, Logan, Kansas: February 17, 2023 – May 14, 2023
Haggin Museum of Art, Stockton, California: June 15, 2023 – August 15, 2023
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi: January 30, 2024 – April 21, 2024
Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Gift to the American Folk Art Museum
Through arcane and alluring artifacts such as grave markers, serpent-headed staffs, richly embroidered textiles, and ceremonial regalia, this exhibition showcases the “golden age” of American secret societies, when folk art and decorative art were brought together to confer a sense of legacy, status, and belonging in a newly established country. The exhibition is drawn from a curated collection donated to the American Folk Art Museum by Kendra and Allan Daniel.
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut: May 29, 2022 – September 4, 2022
Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, Louisiana: February 16, 2024 to May 10, 2024
About the American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museum engages people of all backgrounds through its collections, exhibitions, publications, and programs as the leading forum shaping the understanding and appreciation of folk and self-taught art across time and place. The Museum is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021.
The tour of American Perspectives is sponsored by the Art Bridges Foundation