Kokeshi Dolls originated in North-East Japan as wooden toys for children. They began being produced towards the end of the Edo period (1603~1868) by woodwork artisans, called Kiji-shi, who normally made bowls, trays and other tableware by using a lathe. They began to make small dolls in the winter to sell to visitors who came to bathe in the many hot springs near their villages, which was believed to be a cure for the demands of a strenuous agricultural lifestyle. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Dec 19, 2011 -
20 comments
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born in Wisconsin on July 31, 1910. He lived in a small house in Milwaukee with his wife Marie, and he worked in a bakery. Between 1954 and 1963 he used his fingers, combs, quills and bakery tools to create hundreds of
explosively colorful semi-abstract landscapes that evoke
primordial soup biology,
Lovecraftian horror,
scifi weirdness and
hellish alien beauty ('Full-Screen View' and its zoomable interface increase the pleasure dramatically). The
12 galleries of paintings at his memorial site are all available for free hi-res download, you can hear him talking about drugs, brain chemistry and visions at the 'Listen' link, and there's currently an
exhibit honoring the centennial of his birth at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
posted by mediareport
on Aug 25, 2010 -
24 comments
Mingei is a transcultural word which combines the Japanese words for all people (Min) and art (Gei). The site has a flash interface and features over 5,000 high resolution, zoomable objects. More information on the
Mingei Movement.
posted by tellurian
on Jan 27, 2009 -
13 comments
The UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History has an extensive,
searchable online collection. It focuse on material art and household items and has objects from all over the world. The website can be browsed either by geographic orgin:
Africa,
Asia,
North and Central America,
Pacific,
South America, or through its two exhibits,
Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives and
Fowler in Focus. Some of my favorite objects (but really, everything is entrancing) are
The Blind Scholar (
a Taiwanese handpuppet),
Chikunga (
a Zambian mask) and a
stirrup spout bottle which looks like a puma eating a piglet (
Peruvian). All items have accompanying descriptions and some have short texts or audioguides with further information.
posted by Kattullus
on Jul 23, 2008 -
3 comments
Home Movies. A 1975 documentary by a young academic folklorist, exploring what it was that people were doing when they made home movies: remembering selectively, creating a "golden age."
[more inside]
posted by Miko
on Jul 21, 2008 -
20 comments
The Gregg Museum of Art & Design at NC State University has a great
collection of folk arts. The strongest section is in
ceramics, with stupendous representation from the NC wood-fired, salt and alkaline glazed traditions. There's this
1868 Hartsoe Alkaline glazed jug, this
19th cent. jug with kild-drip, this
Hancock Half-Gallon jug, this
Randolph Cty salt-glazed jug with ashy shoulder, and then the moderns:
Burlon Craig,
Vernon Owen,
Mark Hewitt. There are also
great photographs, weird
furniture, outsider
critters, and
more.
There isn't a good browse function, so you need some idea of what you want to search for.
posted by OmieWise
on Mar 15, 2007 -
9 comments
Rugs of War ::
"The traditional knotted rugs made by the semi-nomadic Baluch people of northern Afghanistan are famous for their distinctive designs, their rich yet subdued palette and the quality of their construction and materials, which feature traditional patterns and motifs.
The “war rug” is an evolution of these Baluch rugs through the inclusion of militaria and other references to the experience of war and conflict in the region. These significant changes became apparent almost immediately after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, when rug-makers began incorporating complex imagery of war planes, helicopters, machine guns, maps and texts into their designs."
posted by anastasiav
on Jan 8, 2007 -
9 comments
Andrey Kuznetsov makes delightful lubki (sing. lubok), a form of Russian folk art, out of some well-known modern movies. Some information (in English) about the medium and its origins with many examples can be seen
here (warning: Java).
Shamelessly ganked from AskMe. Thanks jonson!
posted by Gator
on Jul 5, 2006 -
15 comments
An imaginary record collection. Okay, so I hit the flea market last Thursday in the freezing cold and came upon this dope soundtrack collection - Melinda, Sweetback's Badass Song, The Marketts Play Batman, Mannix, More Mission Impossbile, etc.., when I came upon this box of... fake records!!
posted by soundofsuburbia
on Jan 15, 2004 -
22 comments
Southern Folk-Art, Outsider Art & Self-Taught Art • Ginger Young of Chapel Hill, NC who runs this eponymously named art studio, says: "Despite their lack of formal training, these artists have tapped into a powerful wellspring of creativity to render their worlds with passion, pathos, and immediacy." Truly
beautiful,
unfiltered,
vibrant stuff. How could you go wrong with artists named Tubby Brown, Minnie Adkins, Mose Tolliver and Woodie Long? On another note: is this school of thought/art, which comes in and out of vogue every few years, as pure as it seems, or is there an air of exploitation and corniness that comes with fetishizing The Other?
posted by dhoyt
on Oct 17, 2003 -
14 comments
The Russian Avant-Garde Book is an online version of the MoMA exhibit, featuring 112 books originally published in Russia during the intensely creative period between 1910 and 1934, before Stalin outlawed any style but social realism. The site is separated into three chronological themes and includes examples of futurist works, constructivist graphic design, children's books, propaganda, photography and photomontage, revolutionary imagery, architecture and industry, war themes, folk art and judaica...
posted by taz
on Oct 8, 2002 -
16 comments
