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. A trained museum educator will facilitate a 90-minute gallery tour exploring the current exhibitions.
Made in New York City: The Business of Folk Art
Folk art has flourished in the heart of New York City since the eighteenth century, contrary to popular belief that it was a rural genre that reflected local tastes, traditions, and needs. In fact, many of the objects that have been associated with the heartland were manufactured and used in New York City by artists and artisans who, in the tradition of self-taught artists around the world, learned their skills by joining family businesses, apprenticing to masters, or by teaching themselves the expertise needed to produce those pieces that we now consider among the core expressions of American folk art. Around one hundred works of art by self-taught artists tell the story about New York City as the center of America’s financial and commercial world from two perspectives simultaneously: “The Art of Business” portrays the people and places that were part of the city’s thrumming commercial life, and “The Business of Art” highlights the diverse mediums and formats used by the artists, artisans, and manufacturers. The exhibition draws on the collections of a number of New York City museums, including the American Folk Art Museum, The New-York Historical Society, and historical societies and museums in all five boroughs, as well as private collections.
Space is limited; registration is required. Contact Rachel Rosen at 212-595-9533, ext. 381 or education@folkartmuseum.org.