EDITOR'S
COLUMN
ROSEMARY GABRIEL
inners all! One year ago, the Museum announced "Quilted Constructions: The Spirit of Design," an international quilt contest to salute the opening of the Museum's new building. The official rules stated that the contest was open to all living artists worldwide; that the quilts be within a specified size range; that they be the original design of the entrant and not an adaptation; and that they be the work of one person. Quiltmakers from twenty-six states and twelve countries—winners all—submitted their work. Fifteen dazzling quilts were chosen; each will be displayed in the Museum's Eva and Morris Feld Gallery from September 14, 2001,through January 13, 2002, and they are all reproduced here, starting on page 20. Constructions of a whole other kind are the creations of Hawkins Bolden, a self-taught artist from Memphis, Tennessee. J. Scott Ogden, who is working on a film documentary about self-taught artists, spent some time with Hawkins Bolden and shares his impressions of the man and his work with us. Many of Bolden's sculptures—constructions made mostly offound objects—were intended to be scarecrows to keep birds out of his yard. He began sometime during the 1960s to fill his small garden with his sculpture, and it wasn't long before the "scarecrows" outnumbered the plants they protected. Ogden's wonderfully illustrated essay begins on page 32. Starting on page 40, we take you in a third direction—completely away from art quilts and folk sculpture—back into the world of silhouette portraits. In the early 1800s, with photography a long way from being practical, a silhouette was the quickest, most economic way of obtaining a credible image of a loved one or friend. Vincent DiCicco is an impassioned collector of hollow-cut silhouettes. His essay,"Silhouette HOLLOW-CUT SILHOUETTE OF A GIRL Portraiture in America: A Fully Artist unidentified Developed Form of Folk Expression," Probably New England c. 1935 traces this art form from its beginCut paper and watercolor on paper; stamped brass nings to its pinnacle, fifty years later, supported by wood frame by exploring the work of specific 3*.. 21 / 4" Collection of the American Folk Art Museum, gift of artists such as William Chamberlain, Robert Bishop, 1985.28.4 James Hosley Whitcomb,and an unidentified artist known only as the "Puffy Sleeve Artist." DiCicco's essay is intriguing and beautifully illustrated with little gems. I hope you enjoy this issue and I look forward to meeting up with you again in December. In the meantime, we are gearing up for the last leg on ourjourney to our new home,and the next issue of Folk Art will tell it all. I hope you are anticipating it as much as we are.
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AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS/FOLK ART Rosemary Gabriel Director ofPublications/Editor and Publisher Tanya Heinrich Exhibition Catalog and Book Editor Sarah J. Munt Production Editor Candie Frankel Copy Editor Katharine Clark Assistant Editor Jeffrey Kibler, The Magazine Group, Inc. Design John Hood Advertising Sales Mel Novatt Advertising Sales Craftsmen Litho Printers
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6 FALL 2001 FOLK ART