American Folk Art: An Enduring Legacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Charles Schuler
Director of Communications
San Francisco International Airport
650.821.5031
Charles.Schuler@flysfo.com
SF-17-64

American Folk Art: An Enduring Legacy
New exhibition features a variety of folk art from across the United States

SAN FRANCISCO - November 14, 2017 - From the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century, American folk art flourished.  Unlike academic or fine art, folk art typically derives from deeply-rooted community traditions, with master craftspeople developing a local style emulated by others and passed from one generation to the next.  Folk art commonly serves both utilitarian and decorative purposes and historically tends to thrive in rural communities.  For example, in the agricultural South, small family-run pottery workshops, which made sturdy stoneware vessels with distinctive glazes, continued in production well into the twentieth century.  In southeastern Pennsylvania, German-speaking European immigrants produced some of the country’s liveliest folk art, easily recognized by its elaborate decoration, with bright colors and motifs, such as birds, hearts, and flowers.

American artisans combined long-held traditions and regional influences with ingenuity and creativity to create a variety of folk art.  This exhibition presents weathervanes, fraktur (illuminated writing), southern stoneware, and wooden canes, alongside more unusual items, such as carved stone books and fraternal-order plaques.

View the online exhibition
#AmericanFolkArt  @SFOMuseum

American Folk Art: An Enduring Legacy is located pre-security in the International Terminal Main Hall Departures Lobby, San Francisco International Airport.  This exhibition is on view to all airport visitors from November 18, 2017, to July 15, 2018.

SFO Museum

SFO Museum was established by the Airport Commission in 1980 for the purposes of humanizing the Airport environment, providing visibility for the unique cultural life of San Francisco, and providing educational services for the traveling public.  The Museum was granted initial accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 1999, reaccredited in 2005, and has the distinction of being the only accredited museum in an airport.  Today, SFO Museum features approximately twenty galleries throughout the Airport terminals displaying a rotating schedule of art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions, as well as the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library and Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, a permanent collection dedicated to the history of commercial aviation.  To browse current and past exhibitions, research our collection, or for more information, please visit www.flysfo.com/museum.  Follow us on www.facebook.com/SFOMuseum, www.twitter.com/SFOMuseum, or www.instagram.com/SFOMuseum.

About San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop flights to more than 45 international cities on 39 international carriers. The Bay Area's largest airport connects non-stop with 83 cities in the U.S. on 13 domestic airlines.  SFO is proud to offer upgraded free Wi-Fi with no advertising.  For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com. Follow us on www.twitter.com/flysfo and  www.facebook.com/flysfo.