Weathervanes have historically served as both tools for farmers, sailors, and others to predict the wind’s direction, and fanciful, imaginative forms designed to captivate and delight viewers on the ground. Over time, weathervanes have also become ritual objects imbued with stories and communal significance, as well as taking on added symbolic importance as emblems of identity, patriotism, status, wealth, and romanticized, bygone eras. Bringing together a range of scholars, this symposium will showcase new research examining the rich and complex layers of meaning found in works of art featured in American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds, an exhibition guest curated by Robert Shaw and coordinated by Emelie Gevalt.
“Points of Interest: New Approaches to American Weathervanes” is a symposium organized in conjunction with the exhibition American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds and in honor of Elizabeth and Irwin Warren, dedicated advocates of the American Folk Art Museum. This symposium builds upon Elizabeth Warren’s scholarship in folk art and commitment to expanding the field.
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers focusing on any aspect of the production, collection, and interpretation of artworks from the exhibition American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds that situate them within broader artistic, cultural, and socio-historical contexts. Please note, selections from the exhibition checklist are available to view online here. Submissions by emerging scholars are particularly encouraged to advance new voices in this field. A modest honorarium will be provided for accepted papers. Please send a 250-word abstract and CV by Wednesday, May 12, 2021, to publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.
Possible lines of inquiry include:
- Iconography of weathervanes, fantasy, and realism in weathervanes, as well as patriotic/nationalist themes and motifs
- New perspectives on commissions and market
- Process, production, and methods of manufacture
- Collecting and/or exhibition histories
- Eco-critical theory and intersections of art and the environment
- Weathervanes within the context of public history, history of science and conservation, architectural history and the built environment
- Weathervanes as works of public art or public monuments
- Questions of historical memory and new insights into public sites
- Theories of object animacy
- Critical approaches to representations of Native Americans by non-Native artists
- New narratives of early American folk art and material culture
American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds will be on view at the American Folk Art Museum from June 23, 2021 to January 2, 2022. An accompanying book is authored by Robert Shaw.