Folk arts
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Folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. They encompass the body of expressive culture associated with the fields of folklore and cultural heritage. Tangible folk art includes objects which historically are crafted and used within a traditional community. Intangible folk arts include such forms as music, dance and narrative structures. Each of these arts, both tangible and intangible, was originally developed to address a real need. Once this practical purpose has been lost or forgotten, there is no reason for further transmission unless the object or action has been imbued with meaning beyond its initial practicality. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice.
It is these cultural artifacts, both tangible and intangible, that become the purview of the
Performance folk arts
In addition to tangible
The concept of cultural (folklore) performance is shared with ethnography and anthropology among other social sciences. The cultural anthropologist Victor Turner identified four universal characteristics of cultural performance. These are playfulness, framing, using symbolic language and employing the subjunctive mood.[1] In performance the audience leaves the daily reality to move into a mode of make-believe, "what if". That this fits well with all types of verbal lore, music, and movement, where reality finds little footing among the symbols, fantasies, and nonsense of traditional tales, proverbs, and jokes is self-evident. Customs and the lore of children and games also fit easily into the language of a folklore performance.
- Children's folklore
- Game studies
- Folk dance
- Folk music
- Folk song
- Game studies
Supporting organizations
The United Nations recognizes and supports cultural heritage around the world, in particular with the IOV International Organization of Folk Art, in partnership with UNESCO. Their declared mission is to "further folk art, customs and culture around the world through the organization of festivals and other cultural events, … with emphasis on dancing, folk music, folk songs and folk art."[2] By supporting international exchanges of folk art groups as well as the organization of festivals and other cultural events, their goal is promote international understanding and world peace.
In the United States, the
Regional folk arts
- African folk art
- Chinese folk art
- Mingei (Japanese folk art movement)
- Minhwa (Korean folk art)
- North Malabar
- Theyyam
- Tribal art
- Warli painting (India)
- Folk arts of Karnataka (India)
- Folk Art and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia and Thrace
- Folk Art Museum of Patras, Greece
- Native American Art
Associations
- Folk Art Society of America
- IOV International Organization of Folk Art, in partnership with UNESCO
- National Endowment for the Arts
References
- ^ (Ben-Amos 1997a, pp. 633–34)
- ^ UNESCO Mission Statement
Works cited
- Green, Thomas A., ed. (1997). Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art. Santa Barbara, CA: ISBN 978-0-87436-986-1.
- Ben-Amos, Dan (1997a). "Performance". in Green (1997), pp. 630–635.