Folk Fest is this weekend in Atlanta, beginning today. It looks as though there are just almost 100 exhibitors (meaning artists alone, and gallery owners who are bringing works by multiple artists).
This is who I’m most looking forward to, in no particular order:
Anton Haardt – she emailed me that she’ll be bringing pieces by Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mary T. Smith, James Purdy, Sam Doyle, Howard Finster, Sybil Gibson, & many others. Another thing I’m excited for Anton about is that she just finished a new book about Juanita Rogers. She will be bringing copies of her Mose T
Dr. Bob
Marcia Weber Art Objects
Rising Fawn Folk Art
Ginger Young Gallery
Main Street Gallery
Now, here’s the thing: if you are looking for contemporary folk/outsider/self-taught/visionary art – and you know who you are interested in and you can attend festivals that they appear at, then Folk Fest may not live up to your expectations.
Some gallery owners (and some self-representing artists) will be bringing art that you may very well not consider folk art. You can scroll through a list of the exhibitors here.
Some artists will be over-represented. For instance, last year it seemed as though we were on Cornbread (John Anderson) overload with so many galleries bringing his work.
On the other hand, many of the galleries brought artists with them and of course that is terrific. What else is terrific is that so many of them have the better pieces of vintage art that you really can’t find elsewhere.
If you like to see what/who gallery owners find new and exciting that you may not know about – or you’re interested in work by an artist who has passed away, whose works will be shown by these galleries – this is a great opportunity. The galleries are coming to you once a year here at Folk Fest, rather than you driving all over to do your collecting.
Here are some pics from last year’s Folk Fest:
Jimmy Straehla was there with his bottlecap truck:
