Shades of Cotton: The Material Worlds of 19th-Century Textiles

Join historians Anna Arabindan-Kesson and Chloe Chapin for a conversation on the economic and symbolic value of cotton, from raw fiber to finished textile.

Living Libraries: Artists on the Geographies of Textiles

Join us for a conversation about textile design and its connection with botany, geography, and global capitalism.

Virtual Insights: An Ecology of Quilts

Join curators Emelie Gevalt and Austin Losada for a behind-the-scenes look at An Ecology of Quilts: The Natural History of American Textiles to learn more about the themes, the artworks, and the artists included in the exhibition.

To Speak In Threads: Hellen Ascoli, Anna Burckhardt Pérez and Siu Vásquez In Conversation

Join curator Anna Burckhardt Pérez and artists Hellen Ascoli and Siu Vásquez for a conversation, both in English and Spanish, about textiles, painting and storytelling.

I Can See It All Even With My Eyes Closed–A Virtual Seminar on the Life and Art of Madalena Santos Reinbolt

Join us for a one-day virtual seminar, offered in English and Portuguese, showcasing new research on Madalena Santos Reinbolt’s artistic practice.

Both/And 3: Dreaming of Home with Gemma Rolls-Bentley

Join curators Brooke Wyatt and Gemma Rolls-Bentley as they explore the museum’s collection through the prism of belonging, community, and identity.

A Dance For Madalena - Ana Pi Responds to the Exhibition Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets

Join us for a series of live performances conceived and performed by Brazilian artist Ana Pi, in response to the exhibition Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets

Friday March 7 – 5:00 p.m. EST
Saturday March 8 – 2:00 p.m. EST
Sunday March 9 – 2:00 p.m. EST

2025 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Join us online for the 2025 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture and discover new research on artists José Antonio da Silva, Hélio Melo, Rosa Elena Curruchich with talks by Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, Kiki Mazzucchelli and Miguel A. López.

Virtual Insights: Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets

Join Curatorial Chair for Exhibitions and Senior Curator of Self-Taught Art & Art Brut curator Valérie Rousseau and Curatorial Assistant Dylan Blau Edelstein for a behind the scenes of Madalena Santos Reinbolt: A Head Full of Planets to learn more about the artist, her artworks and the themes included in the exhibition.

Mystical Abstraction: Women, Spiritualism, and the Arts

Join Jennifer Higgie and Hilma’s Ghost for a conversation about Shaker gift drawings, spiritual abstraction, and women artists.

A Beautiful Stillness: Artists Mariam Ghani, Erin Ellen Kelly, Maria Molteni and Cauleen Smith in Conversation

Join artists Mariam Ghani, Erin Ellen Kelly, Maria Molteni and Cauleen Smith for a conversation about the Shaker influence on American culture and imagination.

The World at Play: Naomi Clark and Mary Flanagan on Historical Gameboards

Join game historians and designers Naomi Clark and Mary Flanagan for a conversation about the Wendel Gameboard Collection on view in the exhibition Playing with Design: Gameboards, Art and Culture.

Virtual Insights: Anticipating the Modern: The Innovative Aesthetics of Gameboards and Shaker Gift Drawings

Join curator Emelie Gevalt for a behind the scenes of Anything But Simple: Gift Drawings and the Shaker Aesthetic and Playing with Design: Gameboards, Art and Culture to learn more about the artworks, the artists, and the themes included in these two visually dazzling and historically complex new exhibitions.

Virtual Insights: Somewhere to Roost

Go behind the scenes with exhibition curator Brooke Wyatt to explore Somewhere to Roost and learn more about the artworks, artists, and themes included in this exhibition.

Radical Institutions and Experimental Psychiatry: The Legacy of Francesc Tosquelles on Film

Join us at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) from Friday, June 21, to Sunday, June 23, for series of films followed by discussions exploring the significance of community, self-management and creativity in the care for mental illness. 

Institutional Psychotherapy: Legacy and Constellations of Francesc Tosquelles

A two-day symposium exploring the legacy of Francesc Tosquelles and presenting new research at the intersection of avant-garde psychiatry, radical politics and arts.

Virtual Insights: Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut

Join co-curators behind the scenes of Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut to learn about the artworks, artists and themes included in this exhibition.

Autobiographical Landscapes: Gary Tyler in Conversation with Allison Glenn

Join artist Gary Tyler and art writer Allison Glenn for a conversation about racial equality, self-representation, and resistance. 

2024 Elizabeth and Irwin Warren Folk Art Symposium

A two-day symposium showcasing new research and curatorial approaches to folk art, early American history and issues of anti-Black racism. *Dates: Friday, February 23, 2024 and Friday, March 8, 2024. 

2024 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Join us online for the 2024 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture and learn more about artists Janet Sobel, Curtis Cuffie and I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, with talks by Natalie Dupêcher, Ciarán Finlayson and Wulan Dirgantoro.

Notes on Style: A Discussion with BlackMass on Portraiture and Personhood

Join the artist collective BlackMass for a conversation on portraiture and personhood in response to the themes and images within Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North.

Virtual Insights: Marvels of My Own Inventiveness

Go behind the scenes with exhibition co-curators Brooke Wyatt and Sadé Ayorinde to explore Marvels of My Own Inventiveness and learn more about the artworks, artists, and themes included in this exhibition.

Virtual Insights: Reasserting Black Presence in the Early American North

Join curators Emelie Gevalt, RL Watson and Sadé Ayorinde behind the scenes of Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North to learn more about the artworks, the artists and the themes included in this exhibition.

Both/And: Immaterial Mediators with Julianne Swartz

Join curator Brooke Wyatt and artist Julianne Swartz as they explore the museum’s collection through the prism of healing and spirituality. 

Both/And: Crip* Materiality with Jessica Cooley

Join curators Brooke Wyatt and Jessica Cooley as they explore the museum’s collection through the prism of disability, care and access. 

Virtual Insights: Material Witness–Artists from the Collection At Work

Go behind the scenes with Brooke Wyatt and Lisa Machi from the Curatorial and Collections Team to explore Material Witness: Folk and Self-Taught Artists at Work and learn more about the artworks, artists, and themes included in this exhibition.

Threads of Knowledge: Dindga McCannon and Aliyah Bonnette in Conversation

Join artists Dindga McCannon and Aliyah Bonnette for an intergenerational conversation about the significance of quilting for African-American communities and their histories.

Threads of Knowledge: The Intricacies of Hawaiian Textiles

Join artists Bernice Akamine, Joiri Minaya and curator Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick as they explore the complex histories of Hawaiian textiles with a focus on tropicalism, protest and sovereignty. 

Threads of Knowledge: Sarah Zapata and Julia Bryan-Wilson in Conversation

Join artist Sarah Zapata and art historian Julia Bryan-Wilson for a conversation about textile aesthetics, politics and the possibilities of multiplicity.

Virtual Insights: Intimate Stories Through Textiles

Join curators Emelie Gevalt and Sadé Ayorinde behind the scenes of What That Quilt Knows About Me to learn more about the artworks, the artists and the themes included in this exhibition.

Book Talk with Jean Hanff Korelitz: The Latecomer

Join us for an online conversation with New York Times best-selling author Jean Hanff Korelitz, which will include a reading from and discussion of her latest novel, The Latecomer. 

2023 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Join us online for the 2023 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture and learn more about self-taught artists Ceija Stojka, David Drake and Mary Sully, with talks by Tímea Junghaus, Jason Young and Philip Deloria. 

Unexpected Partners: Self-Taught Art and Modernism in Interwar America

Join us for a virtual symposium exploring American modernism and its entanglements with self-taught art in the interwar period. This program is organized in partnership with Stanford University’s Department of Art & Art History.

In Dreams Awake

Join artists Susan Bee, Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Kathy Ruttenberg for a critical conversation about Morris Hirsfield’s visual imagination and fantasy, moderated by art critic Isabella Segalovich. 

In the Wilds of Brooklyn: Roz Chast and Ben Katchor in Conversation

Join Roz Chast and Ben Katchor for an hour of stories highlighting the Jewish American fabric of Hirshfield’s paintings.

Virtual Insights: Rediscovering Morris Hirshfield

Join curators Richard Meyer, Susan Davidson and Valérie Rousseau behind the scenes of Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered to learn more about the artist, his paintings and the themes included in this exhibition.

2022 Elizabeth and Irwin Warren Folk Art Symposium | Objects of Inquiry: New Perspectives on American Folk Art

A symposium showcasing new research and interdisciplinary approaches to American Folk Art

Virtual Insights: Jordan Nassar on Memory and Embroidery

Virtual Insights: vanessa german and Amber J. Phillips on World-Building

Virtual Insights: Working Birds, Wildfowl Decoys, and Conservation

Explore the fascinating history of wildfowl decoys and learn more from NYC Audubon about current conservation efforts to protect wild birds in New York City. 

2022 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Join us online for the 2022 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture and discover new research on visionary artists Sister Gertrude Morgan, William Edmondson, and Joseph Yoakum with talks by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Jennifer Jane Marshall, and Esther Adler 

Virtual Insights: Making MULTITUDES

Join exhibition curator Emelie Gevalt behind the scenes of MULTITUDES and learn more about the art, artists, and themes included in this exhibition.

Virtual Insights: KAWS in Conversation

Join us for a dialogue with noted artist, collector, and AFAM trustee KAWS and Valérie Rousseau, Senior Curator of Self-Taught Art & Art Brut in celebration of the Museum’s 60th anniversary.

Virtual Insights: Exposed to the Elements | A Conversation on Conservation

Join conservation scientist Jennifer L. Mass and conservator Nick Pedemonti for a conversation on weathervane conservation, patina, use, and care.

Elizabeth and Irwin Warren Folk Art Symposium | Points of Interest: New Approaches to American Weathervanes

A symposium showcasing new research on American weathervanes.

Virtual Insights: Entangled Images | Perspectives on Indigenous Representation

Join us for a conversation exploring how Indigenous art historians are countering historic tropes with contemporary scholarship, image-making, and creative expression.

Virtual Insights: Winds of Change | A Conversation on Art and Our Changing Climate

Join us for an interdisciplinary and intersectional dialogue on art, agriculture, and environmentalism with scholars, artists, an activist, and a policymaker.

Digital Drink + Draw: Utopias

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM Education staff and other creatives exploring visionary works by self-taught artists that represent desires for a better world.

Virtual Insights: In the Studio with Brooklyn Metal Works

Virtual Insights: Weathervanes in Context

Join us for a conversation on weathervanes and exhibition-making with Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt and acclaimed folk art scholar and curator Robert Shaw.

Digital Drink + Draw: Abstraction

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM’s Education staff and other creatives exploring colors, shapes, forms, and a range of approaches to abstraction.

Virtual Insights: The Imagined Worlds of Marwencol with Jon Ronson and Mark Hogancamp

Virtual Insights: Antwaun Sargent in Conversation with Horace D. Ballard

Join us for a conversation with author and critic Antwaun Sargent in dialogue with curator and art historian Horace D. Ballard as they explore the rich histories and contemporary practices of emerging and established Black and self-taught photographers with a focus on questions of power, position, and influence.  

Virtual Insights: (Re)Turning the Gaze

Virtual Insights: Nina Katchadourian and Neil Goldberg on Photography and Portraiture

Virtual Insights: A Reading from the Black Art Library

Virtual Insights: Objects of Desire

2021 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

Virtual Insights: In the Studio with Noble Signs

Virtual Insights: New Approaches to American Art

What does it mean to be defined as “American” within museums today? Curators Sylvia Yount, Layla Bermeo, and Kimberli Gant join Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt to reflect on the expanding field of American art and how they are actively re-envisioning more expansive and inclusive narratives within their institutions.

Virtual Insights: In the Studio with Kevin Blythe Sampson

Virtual Insights: Figuring Absence

Join us for a conversation with historian Nalleli Guillen and Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt on race, representation, and exclusion in 18th- and early 19th-century American art.

Perspectivas Virtuales: Perspectivas Estadounidenses

Virtual Insights: American Perspectives with Stacy C. Hollander

Join us for a virtual tour of American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection led by exhibition curator Stacy C. Hollander.

Digital Drink + Draw: Narrative and Text

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM Education staff and other creatives.

**Registration for this program is now at capacity. To join the waitlist, please submit your name and email through the Eventbrite ticket page.**

Virtual Insights: Judith Scott

Join us for a conversation on Judith Scott’s groundbreaking life and work with Senior Curator Valérie Rousseau and Tom di Maria, Director of External Relations at Creative Growth Art Center.

Virtual Insights: Bisa Butler in Conversation with Dr. Myrah Brown Green

Join us for a conversation with artist Bisa Butler and art historian Dr. Myrah Brown Green about their art and activism, the exchange of generational memory, and their responses to selected works from the  museum’s collection.

Digital Drink + Draw: Imagined Vistas

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM Education staff and other creatives.

Virtual Insights: Quilts Revisited

Join us for a conversation on quilts and curatorial practice with Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt and acclaimed quilt scholar and curator Elizabeth V. Warren.

Virtual Insights: A Reading from Foodie Faces

Watch artist and authors Bill and Claire Wurtzel read from their new book Foodie Faces, and find inspiration for making art from food at home.

Virtual Insights: Archiving the Present

Join Natalie Milbrodt, Director of the Queens Memory Project, and Regina Carra, Archivist at the American Folk Art Museum, for a conversation on archiving stories of resilience, hope, mutual aid, and loss amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Special guest, artist Alexis Ward will join the conversation to discuss her artistic practice.

Digital Drink + Draw: Pattern and Repetition

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM Education staff and other creatives.

**Registration for this program is now at capacity. To join the waitlist, please submit your name and email through the Eventbrite ticket page. A recording of the tour will also be shared on our website.**

Virtual Insights: A Reading from Fables across Time

Join us for a dual-language virtual reading by artist and author Sabiha Al Khemir of a story from her children’s book Fables across Time.

Digital Drink + Draw: Fantasy and Alternate Realities

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with AFAM Education staff and other creatives.

Virtual Insights: American Perspectives

Join us for a virtual tour of American Perspectives led by Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt.

Digital Drink + Draw: Interiors

Unwind and find inspiration in self-taught art! Drink, draw, and connect virtually with museum staff and other creatives.

Virtual Insights: Signature Styles

Join us for a virtual tour of current exhibition Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts led by exhibition curator and Curator of Folk Art Emelie Gevalt.

**Registration for this program is now at capacity. To join the waitlist, please submit your name and email through the Eventbrite ticket page. A recording of the tour will also be shared on our website.**

Families and Folk Art: Artists' Materials (Postponed)

In the galleries, families will learn about the artworks that tell a unique story through their use of unusual and found materials. Back in the studio, participants will create their own collaborative pieces in response.

Curatorial Gallery Tour: Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts

Dialogue + Studio: Hand Painting Workshop (Postponed)

Families and Folk Art: American Perspectives

Families and Folk Art introduces children ages 4 to 12 and their accompanying adults to folk art through interactive discussion-based tours in the galleries followed by hands-on artmaking activities inspired by objects in the museum.

Curatorial Gallery Tour: Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts

Join us for a tour of Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts, led by Emelie Gevalt, curator of folk art, at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City.

Dialogue + Studio: Lacemaking Workshop

Try your hand at the traditional art of bobbin lacemaking, which developed out of complex braiding techniques more than four hundred years ago.

Curatorial Gallery Tour: Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts

Join us for a tour of Signature Styles: Friendship, Album, and Fundraising Quilts, led by Emelie Gevalt, curator of folk art, at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City.

Caribbean Arts Festival: Migration of Colors: Island Stories

Join us for an offsite family program at the St. Albans branch of the Queens Library. Through guided discussion and hands-on artmaking, we will explore the works of Caribbean artists.

Field Vision

This discussion will bring exhibition curator Valérie Rousseau, curator Robert Cozzolino, and specialist Cara Zimmerman into conversation about the expansion of the field of self-taught art through the study of archival material and oral history, around the theme of the supernatural, and to wider audiences.

Verbal Description Program

Visitors who are blind or partially sighted are invited to join us for an interactive verbal description and touch tour in the museum’s galleries. The tour incorporates verbal imaging techniques and the museum’s Touch Collection, which includes objects that are expressly meant for handling.

Families and Folk Art: Found Materials & Art Environments

Participants will discuss some of the spectacular artworks on view, then return to the studio to tinker with a variety of materials and create pieces that respond to the art environments.

Southern Sounds: Listening Party with Dust-to-Digital

Join us for a listening party hosted by Atlanta-based record company Dust-to-Digital. Founders Lance and April Ledbetter will play recordings issued by their label and discuss the importance of preserving oral histories and music as cultural artifacts.

Drawing Connections

Join us for a special evening of curators in conversation and an artist-led participatory drawing experience, inspired by works on paper featured in the exhibition Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler.

Curator's Perspective Tour

Join us for a tour of the exhibition Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler with curator Valérie Rousseau.

Dialogue + Studio: Unconventional Materials—SOLD OUT

In this workshop, teaching artist Nadia Martinez will lead participants in making sculptural mobiles, using wire and recycled museum materials that can change their own environment.

Families and Folk Art: Pattern and Repetition

Participants will explore the artwork on a guided tour, then return to the studio to use mixed media to create their own pieces that focus on detailed patterning.

Finding Form in Found Materials

This discussion will convene scholars to discuss the innovation of self-taught artists and how studying materials and process can lead to a deeper understanding of their work.

Walter Benjamin: The Storyteller—SOLD OUT

Join the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, The New York Review of Books, and the American Folk Art Museum as we take the occasion of the publication of The Storyteller Essays to examine the meaning and enduring relevance of Walter Benjamin’s essay.

Dialogue + Studio: Painting with Found Pigments—SOLD OUT

Participants in this workshop will be introduced to the natural colors of foraged mineral pigments and botanical lake pigments.

Outsider Ball: Four Centuries of Folk Art

The Outsider Ball provides a primary source of funding for the American Folk Art Museum and its acclaimed educational programs. The 2019 ball honors Audrey B. Heckler, Monty Blanchard, and Leslie Tcheyan.

Families and Folk Art: Memory Palaces

Participants will explore select artworks on a guided tour, then return to the studio and make their own 3D interpretation of a memory palace.

Educators' Open House

Join the American Folk Art Museum’s education department and educators from around the city for private tours of the current exhibitions, educational resources, and light refreshments.

Critical Walk-Through: LJ Roberts on Weaving Community

Contemporary artist LJ Roberts will discuss their textile practice that celebrates queer histories and communities, while investigating the overlap of queer and trans politics, activism, protest, and craft, and explore connections to the current exhibition.

Dialogue + Studio: Patchwork Paper Piecing—SOLD OUT

In this quilting workshop, participants will learn the fundamental skills of traditional paper piecing.

Families and Folk Art: Quilted Stories

Join us to explore twenty-one striking quilts that are new to the museum’s collection. Participants will study these textile masterpieces then create their own artwork that tells a unique story and responds to the quilts on view.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of A Piece of Yourself: Gift Giving in Self-Taught Art with the exhibition’s curator, Steffi Duarte.

Summer Saturday 2019

Celebrate everything folk at the American Folk Art Museum’s Summer Saturday—an all-day FREE event of live music, artist demos, guided tours, and family fun.

Dialogue + Studio: Sampler Workshop—SOLD OUT

Teaching artist and textile conservator Kaelyn Garcia will speak about the history of American samplers and their role in childhood education, then lead a sampler-making workshop.

Expanding Perspectives: Our New York Histories

This panel discussion is a convening of contemporary artists and historians whose work shines a light on underrepresented and diverse histories of early New York City and how they impact our lives today.

Making Gotham: A Walk with Kamau Ware

Artist and historian Kamau Ware will lead an off-site walking tour in Lower Manhattan to bring you outside the museum to the streets of New York. 

Making Gotham: A Talk with Kamau Ware

Join us for an evening with artist and historian Kamau Ware as he leads a gallery talk to expand on the historical narratives depicted in the current exhibition.

Families and Folk Art: Sampler Making

Learn about several beautifully intricate samplers created by young female students all around New York City, and create your own sampler in a guided artmaking workshop.

Critical Walk-Through: Daniel A. Bruce

Artist Daniel A. Bruce will discuss his use of varied traditional folk art techniques and objects to shed a light on commonalities between the typically marginalized spheres of folk art and gay culture, and explore how the themes of religion, superstition, and masculinity relate to the current exhibition.

Verbal Description Program

Visitors who are blind or partially sighted are invited to join us for an interactive verbal description and touch tour in the museum’s galleries. The tour incorporates verbal imaging techniques and the museum’s Touch Collection, which includes objects that are expressly meant for handling.

Art Museum Day 2019

The American Folk Museum is participating in AAMD’s 10th annual Art Museum Day.

Best of the Boroughs: Bronx Day

This spring, celebrate your city at the American Folk Art Museum. Join us for a five-part series celebrating the contributions, communities, histories, cultures, music, and food of each of New York City’s five boroughs.

Small Folk Story Hour

This program for pre-k and elementary school-aged small folk will feature a New York–themed story selected from the stacks of the Queens Library and a family-friendly tour of the artworks on view.

Boroughs in Business: Art and Commerce in New York City

This half-day symposium will bring curators and scholars together to examine New York City as the center for commercial and artistic innovation through the works on view in the current exhibition.

Families and Folk Art: Carousel Animals

Participants will learn about the magnificent carousel animals that were sculpted in popular NYC workshops of the early twentieth century.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of New York Experienced with the exhibition’s curator, Steffi Duarte.

City of Dreams: Immigrant Life in 19th-Century New York

Tyler Anbinder, a specialist in 19th-century American politics and the history of immigration and ethnicity in American life, will discuss immigrant life in New York City.

Best of the Boroughs: Queens Day

This spring, celebrate your city at the American Folk Art Museum. Join us for a five-part series celebrating the contributions, communities, histories, cultures, music, and food of each of New York City’s five boroughs.

Curatorial Gallery Tour: New York Experienced

In honor of the Best of the Boroughs: Queens Day celebration at our Lincoln Square location, our Long Island City based Self-Taught Genius Gallery will open its doors for a special tour.

Drink & Draw

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City for a fun, relaxed night of drawing, sipping, and learning.

New York Experienced Open House

Visit the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City for an open house of New York Experienced, the gallery’s current exhibition, which features works made in the greater New York City area from the American Folk Art Museum’s collection.

Tiny Folk Tour

Join us for a special baby-friendly tour of the New York Experienced exhibition at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City, Queens

Dialogue + Studio: Spoon Carving—SOLD OUT

Teaching artist and wood worker Kate Hawes will discuss early American furniture making, inspired by the carved works on view, and teach the fundamentals of woodworking in this spoon carving workshop.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of New York Experienced with the exhibition’s curator, Steffi Duarte.

Families and Folk Art: New York City—Then and Now

Through a guided tour, participants will consider how New York City has evolved over the past 200 years and create an artwork that reflects their own borough: then and now.

Curator's Perspective Tour

Join us for a tour of the exhibition Made in New York City: The Business of Folk Art with curator Elizabeth V. Warren.

Archives Discovery Time (Postponed)

Take a deep dive into the world of the artists on display in the New York Experienced exhibition at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery through a study of the American Folk Art Museum’s archival holdings.

Book Talk with Dr. Cheryl Finley — Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon

Join us for an evening with Dr. Cheryl Finley to discuss her 2018 book titled Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon (Princeton University Press).

City Reliquary Tour with Young Folk

Join Young Folk for an exclusive tour and reception at the City Reliquary, a unique community museum and civic organization located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that highlights New York City history, past and present. We will be joined by the City Reliquary’s founder, Dave Herman, and special guest Sarah Murray.

Post-Colonial Visions and John Dunkley

This panel discussion will expand on the historical and political context of exhibition artist John Dunkley’s lifetime in pre-independence Jamaica, including intersections with Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanism.

Families and Folk Art: Nightscape Drawings

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Jamaican artist John Dunkley created nightscape paintings that tell complex stories of the nature, people, and scenes of his homeland. After a guided tour in the galleries, participants will use special glow-in-the-dark materials to create their own mysterious “drawings in the dark.”

2019 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

The 2019 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture will explore new research on self-taught art of Ghana in conjunction with the museum exhibition Paa Joe: Gates of No Return, presented until February 24, 2019. Speakers include Kristin Otto on fantasy coffins (abebuu adekai), Silvia Forni on Asafo flags, and Ernie Wolfe on hand-painted movie posters. Coffee and pastries to start.

Verbal Description Program

Visitors who are blind or partially sighted are invited to join us for an interactive verbal description and touch tour in the museum’s galleries. The tour incorporates verbal imaging techniques and the museum’s Touch Collection, which includes objects that are expressly meant for handling.

Critical Walk-Through: Nari Ward

New York-based artist Nari Ward will discuss his work and practice engaging with migration and citizenship, community, and his native Jamaica, while exploring how those themes relate to the exhibition John Dunkley: Neither Day nor Night.

Family Story Hour: Celebrating Paa Joe's Ghana

Join us for story hour and a drawing workshop. Participants will join writer and educator Nicole Haroutunian in a live reading of stories about Ghana and West Africa, the homeland of exhibition artist Paa Joe.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of Roadside Attraction with the exhibition’s curator, Sarah Margolis-Pineo.

Stroller Tour at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery

Join us for a special stroller-friendly tour of the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City, Queens.

Walls Can Speak: Sites, Memorials, and Social Justice

In response to exhibition artist Paa Joe’s slave castles, large-scale wooden sculptures of the forts located along Ghana’s Gold Coast that were used in the transatlantic slave trade, this panel discussion will bring scholars together to engage in a conversation about memorializing sites of trauma and legacies of slavery.

Fab Folk Fest

Celebrate the spirit of creativity and artful style at Fab Folk Fest, the American Folk Art Museum’s annual holiday event celebrating the beauty of self-taught art.

Fab Folk Fest

Celebrate the spirit of creativity and artful style at Fab Folk Fest, the American Folk Art Museum’s annual holiday event celebrating the beauty of self-taught art.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of Roadside Attraction with the exhibition’s curator, Sarah Margolis-Pineo.

Dialogue + Studio: Block Printing Textile Workshop—SOLD OUT

Teaching artist Joiri Minaya will lead a block printing on textile workshop and discuss the history of the pattern design process and intersections with her own art and practice.

Small Folk Story Hour

This program for pre-k and elementary school-aged small folk will feature stories selected from the stacks of the Queens Library.

Critical Walk-Through: Cy Gavin

Contemporary artist Cy Gavin will discuss his art and practice engaging with landscape, identity, and his family history in Bermuda, while exploring how those themes relate to the works on view by exhibition artists Paa Joe and John Dunkley.

Educators' Open House

Please join the American Folk Art Museum’s education department and educators from around the city for private tours of the current exhibitions, educational resources, and light refreshments.

Midday Art Break

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City over your noon break for a free tour of Roadside Attraction with the exhibition’s curator, Sarah Margolis-Pineo.

Families and Folk Art: Animals All Around

Animals of all kinds feature prominently in John Dunkley’s paintings and sculptures of his native Jamaica. Drawing inspiration from the artist’s subjects, participants will create their own mixed media sculptural menagerie.

Walter Benjamin: The Collector Course

Walter Benjamin was one of the Western world’s preeminent philosophers of stuff—from toys to decorative design to clothes, materials, buildings, popular art and knick-knacks. In this course offered by the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, students will examine Benjamin’s writings on collecting.

Verbal Description Program—SOLD OUT

Visitors who are blind or partially sighted are invited to join us for an interactive verbal description and touch tour in the museum’s galleries. The tour incorporates verbal imaging techniques and the museum’s Touch Collection, which includes objects that are expressly meant for handling.

Fall 2018 Benefit Gala

The annual Fall Benefit Gala provides a primary source of funding for the American Folk Art Museum and its acclaimed educational programs. The 2018 benefit honors Elyse and Lawrence B. Benenson, Raf Simons (Chief Creative Officer, Calvin Klein), and The Wunsch Americana Foundation.

Self-Taught Genius Bar | Rosé Wines & Rose Quilts—SOLD OUT

We’re extending rosé season into September this year with this special Self-Taught Genius Bar program, sponsored by Archer Roose Wines!

Artist Talk + Workshop | Natalia Nakazawa: Unarchiving Woven Histories

Artist Natalia Nakazawa will present an artist talk, exhibition walk-through, and collaborative quilt-making workshop that explores the stories embedded in everyday materials and things.

Families and Folk Art: The Botanist's Eye

Participants will explore and discuss Orra White Hitchcock’s Herbarium and Fungi Album, and create watercolor paintings that document the natural world around us.

Exploring the Poetical Sciences: The Story of Edward and Orra White Hitchcock

This half-day symposium will bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines and examine the lives and work of the Hitchcocks through different lenses, including poetry, geology, and paleontology.

Folk + Feminism Book Club | Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace

In the spirit of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, this Folk + Feminism Book Club explores craft and crime, and memory and history, through a two-part talk inspired by the idea of the quilt as a metaphor.

Small Folk Story Hour

This program for small folk will feature a story reading, followed by an interactive gallery scavenger hunt.

Queens Memory Program: Quilting Memories of Migration

Gather with a team of quilters and storytellers to celebrate the completion of Common Thread, a twelve-week series of workshops to create a community story quilt.

Fungus Among Us: Urban Expedition with the New York Mycological Society—SOLD OUT

Calling all citizen scientists! Please join us for a mushroom identification walk in Central Park with mycologist Paul Sadowski.

Dialogue + Studio: Bioworlds Terrarium Workshop—SOLD OUT

Inspired by Orra White Hitchcock’s Herbarium Album, plant educators Katy and Michelle from Twig Terrariums will explore the galleries while discussing their shared practice, and offer a terrarium-making workshop. All materials and plant-care instructions will be provided.

Families and Folk Art: PaleoAdventures!

Program participants will explore and discuss the specimens and dinosaur tracks on display in the museum galleries, and then create their own imaginary extinct fossil prints in response to the process of scientific discovery.

Critical Walk-Through: Ellen Gallagher on Evolutionary Possibilities—SOLD OUT

Artist Ellen Gallagher will discuss her ongoing Watery Ecstatic series and relate her work to the scientific illustrations on view in the exhibition Charting the Divine Plan: The Art of Orra White Hitchcock (1796–1863).

Summer Saturday 2018

Celebrate everything folk at the American Folk Art Museum’s Summer Saturday—an all-day FREE event of live music, artist demos, guided tours, and family fun.

Dialogue + Studio: Scientific Ink—SOLD OUT

Tattoo artist Rachel Hauer will discuss the influence of botanical and scientific illustrations in her perennial practice, and teaching artist Ruth Marten will lead a watercolor illustration workshop.

Contemporary Alchemy: Women in Art + Science

Join us for an evening with contemporary women artists working at the intersection of art, science, and education, inspired by the interdisciplinary nature of the works on view in the exhibition Charting the Divine Plan: The Art of Orra White Hitchcock (1796–1863).

Drink & Draw—SOLD OUT

Join us at the Self-Taught Genius Gallery in Long Island City for a fun, relaxed night of drawing, with beverages provided by LIC Beer Project.

Artist Talk and Screening: Brent Green

Holding Space: The Museum Collects artist Brent Green presents his new short film A Brief Spark Bookended by Darkness, and discusses his creative practice, which brings together object making, storytelling, and video art.

Young Folk Says Why Knot?

To celebrate five years of Young Folk, we’re throwing a boat party.

Critical Walk-Through: Kamau Ware of Black Gotham Experience

Artist and historian Kamau Ware will discuss founding the Black Gotham Experience (BGX), an immersive visual storytelling project that celebrates the impact of the African Diaspora on New York City since 1625.

Private Tour of The Sketchbook Project

Join members of the American Folk Art Museum on a private tour of The Sketchbook Project.

Dialogue + Studio: Maps with Jerry Gretzinger

Artist Jerry Gretzinger will discuss his work included in the Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic exhibition and then teach participants the basics of creating a fictional place. The workshop will include conceptualizing and drawing a map of one’s own imagined world.

Critical Walk-Through: Jesse Bransford on Creating Visual Languages

Artist Jesse Bransford will discuss the role of belief and visual systems in his work, exploring how this practice relates to artists included in the Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic exhibition.

Serial Narratives and Never-ending Stories

This discussion will explore the theme of narrative seriality in self-taught art, with particular focus on works in which text and language intersect in innovative ways. It will give attention to artists Henry Darger, Malcolm McKesson, A.G. Rizzoli, and Adolf Wölfli—all of whom attempted to create magnum opuses by continuously building upon a single story.

Tour of Franklin Furnace Archive

Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of Franklin Furnace and a discussion with its founding director, Martha Wilson, and senior archivist, Michael Katchen.

Darger Day: Celebrating Realms of the Unreal

Join the American Folk Art Museum in celebrating the birthday of self-taught artist Henry Darger.

Critical Walk-Through: Abeer Hoque & Josh Steinbauer

Abeer Hoque and Joshua Steinbauer will discuss their collaborative project based on Hoque’s 2017 cross-cultural memoir, Olive Witch, which takes the reader from Nigeria to Pennsylvania and Bangladesh.

Dialogue + Studio: Zine

Artist Sarah Nicholls will teach participants the fundamentals of creating zines while giving a brief history of the medium. The workshop will cover page layout, creative ideas for working with text and image, cover design, and a range of simple binding techniques.

Families and Folk Art: Storytelling Scrolls

Through guided gallery discussion, participants will learn about different visual storytelling techniques found in the exhibition Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic. After drawing inspiration from Swiss artist Aloise Corbaz’s hand sewn notebooks and large-scale scroll drawing, families will create their own fantastical, collaged murals in the museum’s studio.

Critical Walk-Through: Ernesto Caivano on Art and Storytelling

Artist Ernesto Caivano will discuss the intersection of drawing and narrative in his work, while examining how his explorations of storytelling relate to works on view in the Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic exhibition.

Invisible Dialogues and Invented Languages

In conjunction with the exhibition Vestiges & Verse: Notes from the Newfangled Epic, this discussion will examine self-taught artists who use coded or invented languages in their work or who identify as mediums through which their art is created.

Folk Art Explorers: Trip to Philadelphia

Join us for an exciting excursion to Philadelphia to visit three private collections of folk art and self-taught art.

Critical Walk-Through: Sarah Suzuki on Self-Taught Genius

Curator Sarah Suzuki will discuss selected drawings and prints on view in the exhibition Highlights from Self-Taught Genius in a guided gallery tour.

Drawing with Susan—SOLD OUT

Join artist Susan Te Kahurangi King for an evening of drawing at the American Folk Art Museum. Drawing with Susan is a creative drawing workshop where participants come together to be inspired by King’s artwork and draw in a shared space.

2018 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

The 2018 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture will explore new research on self-taught art of the Caribbean. Speakers include Barbara Paca on Antiguan artist Frank Walter, Nancy Josephson on Haitian artist Myrlande Constant and Haitian Vodou Flags, and Jacqueline Bishop on Jamaican artist Kemel Rankine.

Critical Walk-Through: Hank Willis Thomas on Transforming Uniforms—SOLD OUT

Contemporary artist Hank Willis Thomas will discuss his We the People series in which he transforms prison uniforms into handmade quilts, exploring how they relate to the works on view in the War and Pieced exhibition.

Materials and Textures: A Family Art Workshop in Self-Taught Genius

Artist Judith Scott concealed everyday objects under layers of wound and woven yarn and textiles, creating new and mysterious works of art. We will examine her artwork and others’ included in the exhibition Self-Taught Genius and then make our own sculptures inspired by the artists.

Fall 2017 Benefit Gala

The annual Fall Benefit Gala provides a primary source of funding for the American Folk Art Museum and its acclaimed educational programs. The 2017 benefit honors Elizabeth and Irwin Warren, Jill Soltau, and Gail O. Mellow.

Veterans Day Celebration

Join the American Folk Art Museum in celebrating Veterans Day!

La Sirena Brings Mexican Folk Art to the Museum

Celebrate Día de los Muertos at the American Folk Art Museum! Shop goods from La Sirena Mexican Folk Art, and enjoy a piece of pan de muerto (“bread of the dead”).

Dialogue + Studio: Intarsia Patterning—SOLD OUT

Examining the relationship between marquetry and quilting, this workshop offers an introduction to intarsia patterning.

Open House: Self-Taught Genius Gallery and the Archives of the American Folk Art Museum

The American Folk Art Museum invites you to an open house of the new Self-Taught Genius Gallery and museum archives in Long Island City, Queens.

Folk Art Explorers: Trip to Los Angeles

The American Folk Art Museum invites you on a four-day trip to Los Angeles, California, for a fun exploration of folk art and self-taught art throughout the city.

Dialogue + Studio: Bookbinding with Combat Paper

Nathan Lewis offers a bookbinding workshop with handmade paper created from military uniforms.

Dialogue + Studio: Combat Paper

Join Ithaca-based artist and veteran Nathan Lewis as he demonstrates how to transform uniforms into pulp, while discussing the myriad ways that textiles carry stories.

Julia Bryan-Wilson on Gender, Politics, and Textiles

Art historian Julia Bryan-Wilson will present an illustrated overview of her recent publication Fray: Art and Textile Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

War and Pieced in Context—SOLD OUT

An evening of scholarly presentations explores the historical, material, and cultural significance of quilts from military fabrics.

Summer Saturday 2017

Celebrate everything folk at the American Folk Art Museum’s Summer Saturday—an all-day FREE event of live music, artist demos, guided tours, and family fun.

Dialogue + Studio: Calligraphy—SOLD OUT

Inspired by the artwork of Carlo Zinelli, individuals are invited to learn the art of calligraphy in a workshop led by professional calligrapher Anna Pinto. Participants will be introduced to two styles of lettering, and use them in a small hands-on project. Limited to 20 participants. All materials will be provided.

Critical Walk-Through: Mark Dion on Eugen Gabritschevsky

Contemporary artist Mark Dion will lead a tour through the exhibition Eugen Gabritschevsky: Theater of the Imperceptible, discussing the parallels between their work and the intersection of art and science.

Folk Art Explorers: Trip to Santa Fe and Albuquerque—SOLD OUT

The museum invites you on a five-day trip to Santa Fe and Albuquerque for an exciting chance to explore New Mexican folk art.

Art Museum Day 2017

Join us to celebrate Art Museum Day with a special guided tour of Eugen Gabritschevsky: Theater of the Imperceptible and Carlo Zinelli (1916–1974).

Inner Worlds: Dialogues on Art and Mental Health—SOLD OUT

Inspired by the profound creativity of artists Carlo Zinelli and Eugen Gabritschevsky, this evening program will explore the landscape of mental health by highlighting historical and contemporary examples of artists living with mental illness. It will offer a space to consider the creativity of the human mind and the role art can play in activating expression.

Critical Walk-Through: Marina Zurkow on Eugen Gabritschevsky

Contemporary artist Marina Zurkow will lead a tour through the exhibition Eugen Gabritschevsky: Theater of the Imperceptible, discussing the relationship among the animal, art, and science.

Young Folk Benefit Party

Young Folk is hosting an annual benefit party Thursday, April 27, from 8:30 pm to midnight at Madame X. Join us for drinks, music, and visuals by Jennifer Reiland.

Dialogue + Studio: Science Illustration

Inspired by the art of Eugen Gabritschevsky, individuals are invited to learn the art of science illustration with a workshop led by professional illustrator Patricia Wynne. Participants will learn the fundamentals of science illustration and how to draw from bones. Limited to 20 participants. All materials will be provided.

Perspectives on Eugen Gabritschevsky

This evening presentation will present new research on the life and work of Eugen Gabritschevsky. Join scholars Anne Sauvagnargues, Kurt Johnson, and Valérie Rousseau as they discuss Gabritschevksy’s relationship to entomology, surrealism, the natural world, and other topics.

Slow Art Day 2017

Celebrate Slow Art Day 2017 at the American Folk Art Museum! Visitors are encouraged to pick up sketching supplies at the front desk and create a sketch of an artwork while exploring the galleries.

Post-Dubuffet: Self-Taught Art in the Twenty-First Century—SOLD OUT

Curators, scholars, and artist come together in this symposium to examine the current state of self-taught art. Speakers will include Maxwell L. Anderson, Edward M. Gómez, Massimiliano Gioni, Jane Kallir, Randall Morris, Barbara Safarova, and Valérie Rousseau, symposium chair and curator at the American Folk Art Museum.

Book Launch for The Hidden Art

Please join us for a public reception and book launch for The Hidden Art: 20th- & 21st-Century Self-Taught Artists from the Audrey B. Heckler Collection.

Educators' Evening

Please join educators and administrators from around the city for a special open house event. Explore the current exhibitions and leave inspired—with complimentary classroom resource materials.

Writing about Loss

Meghan O’Rourke, author of the 2012 best-seller The Long Goodbye: A Memoir, will read excerpts from her book and discuss the process of writing about grief and mourning with poet Deborah Landau.

Dialogue + Studio: Mourning Jewelry—SOLD OUT

Jeweler and educator, Karen Bachmann, will lead a mourning jewelry workshop, in which participants are taught the tradition of hairwork jewelry.

How We Remember: Death in American Art & Culture—SOLD OUT

On the occasion of the exhibition Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America, thinkers from a variety of disciplines will gather to share perspectives on topics related to the art and culture of death in America.

2017 Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture

The Anne Hill Blanchard Uncommon Artists Lecture Series highlights new and important contributions in the field of self-taught art and art brut.

Special Family Event: Fables across Time

Join us for a special reading, in Arabic and English, of the children’s book Fables across Time, at the Collections and Education Center in Long Island City, Queens.

Fables Across Time Book Signing

Join us for a reception and book signing for the launch of Fables across Time with Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir.

Death and Mourning in American Folk Music

Musicians Eli Smith, the Four O’Clock Flowers, and Mamie Minch will play American folk songs centered around the theme of death and mourning in the down-home tradition. A conversation with the musicians will conclude the performance.

"Folksgiving" with Young Folk and Victory Club

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Young Folk and Victory Club!

Walking Tour of Green-Wood Cemetery—SOLD OUT

Join Brooklyn-based writer Allison C. Meier for a walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery. Learn about the history of the site and discover its rich collection of gravestone portraiture and Victorian visuals. Limited to 30 individuals.

Screening: A Family Undertaking

Filmmaker Elizabeth Westrate will introduce and screen her 2004 documentary A Family Undertaking (PBS), which explores the home burial movement in the United States.

Dialogue + Studio: Day of the Dead

Teaching artist Tamara Geisler will lead a Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) workshop focused on the symbolism of flowers in the Mexican tradition.

Fall 2016 Benefit Gala

The annual Fall Benefit Gala provides a primary source of funding for the museum and its acclaimed educational programs. The 2016 benefit honors Lucy and Mike Danziger, The Ford Foundation, and Thornton Dial.

Curator-led Tour of Securing the Shadow

Join exhibition curator Stacy C. Hollander for a special Closer-Look Tour of Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America that will focus on the inclusion of archival material in the exhibition.

Opening Celebration of AFAM Archives at the Collections and Education Center

Join us for small group tours of the reading room and library and archive storage, view some highlights from the archival collections, see the new gallery space where a selection of quilts will be on display, and celebrate with a wine and cheese reception at the Collection and Education Center in Long Island City, Queens.

Trip to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art—SOLD OUT

The museum invites you to a three-day trip to Bentonville, Arkansas, to view the exhibition American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Southern Self-Taught Artists on Film

Filmmaker David Seehausen will introduce several short documentary films he has made about African American self-taught artists from the South, such as Jimmy Sudduth, Lonnie Holley, and Ronald Lockett. Seehausen will dialogue with artist and fellow filmmaker Scott Ogden.

Society, Community, and Culture: Ronald Lockett in Context

Director Camille A. Brown will perform an excerpt from her 2014 Bessie Award–Winning production “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” and will speak about shared cultural themes and issues of race that are common to her and Ronald Lockett’s work.

Blue Star Museums: Special Event for Military Families

Open to all military personnel and their family members, this is an intergenerational program designed particularly for adults with children ages 4–15. An interactive, guided gallery tour will be followed by a hands on artmaking workshop in the museum studio.

Speaking of Gold and Rust: The Artistic Legacy of Ronald Lockett

Contemporary artists will discuss Ronald Lockett’s remarkable life and work and its resonance within today’s society at a panel discussion titled “Speaking of Gold and Rust: The Artistic Legacy of Ronald Lockett” on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, from 6:30–8:00 pm at the American Folk Art Museum. Locket’s work is the focus of two concurrent exhibitions at the museum: Fever Within: The Art of Ronald Lockett, and Once Something Has Lived It Can Never Really Die. Following the discussion, there will be a party from 8:30–10:30 pm with music by Dj Annamara, hors d’oeuvres, drinks by Lagunitas, Perrier, Golden Moon Distillery, and Archer Roose Wine. The evening is presented by Young Folk, the young patrons of the American Folk Art Museum.

Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin

Organized in conjunction with Fever Within: The Art of Ronald Lockett, author Deborah E. McDowell will share personal recollections and read excerpts from her memoir Leaving Pipe Shop: Memories of Kin.

Educators' Open House

Please join the museum’s education department and educators from around the city for private tours of the current exhibitions, educational resources, and light refreshments.

Ronald Lockett: Prescient Voice

This gathering of scholars and curators explores the course of Ronald Lockett’s artistic development, his influences, and the challenges his creative work brings to larger histories of American art.