Folksy !!!

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting a great group of women, many of them grandmothers and some of them great-grandmothers. These ladies are members of the 20th Century Study Club in Justin, Texas.

I had been invited to their monthly meeting to share some of my pieces of American Folk Art, as well as some information about folk art styles. Wow, was I impressed when I learned this club has been in existence since 1938. This kind of group is what makes American communities so important, for over 70 years these ladies have gathered together to form friendships and to help strengthen their local community. There were some wonderful conversations concerning their own collections and remembrances of folk art that had been produced or collected in their own families. Thank you ladies!!

In an earlier post I suggested kids seem to be natural folk artists, they can turn just about anything into art if encouraged. I would also like to encourage our generation to think in that way. Folk art came about when “common folk” began to have access to mass produced goods. Instead of throwing things away they found a way to make use of them.

An old jar became decorative when it was covered with putty or clay and odd bits of beads, buttons and memorabilia were stuck to the sides.


Bottle caps became kitschy ashtrays when strung together with wire.


Fabric scraps from old clothing became a useful bed covering.


And, as we all know popsicle sticks can be anything!!!



In the next week I will share with you one of my favorite recycled projects. What do you do with old eyeglasses???...you turn them into Jeepers Peepers of course!!!

Blurring the lines between art and craft!!

In the art and craft community there is an ongoing debate about what is art and what is craft. I have had my share of these debates. I , along with many other "crartists", would like to have a simple answer. There isn't one, I give up!! This is one of those questions ROWDY GRANDMA does not have an answer for.

Amazingly, in delving into art with my grandkids I discovered the first forms of art/craft children create is folk art. They usually begin with simple materials and shapes, and often pick up the strangest things to create with. Some of our best loved folk artists began this way.

I recently ordered a book from Amazon (I love searching Amazon). The book is American Folk Art for Kids, by Richard Panchyk. One of my favorite artists in the book is Mr. Imagination, he works with all kinds of recycled materials. His old, worn out paintbrush turned into a person is fabulous!! Well, when I saw this the grandkids and I got to work on our own paintbrush characters.



I will share some of these with you in the coming week...oh yeah, and also some of the things that work and some that don't. Here is my experimental paintbrush character......let's call him Hawkeye Mo!!.....ain't he pretty.

Folk art and popsicle sticks!!!

Have you seen some of the cool stuff made with popsicle sticks? A big box of them is a good way to get the creativity flowing with the rowdy grandkids. You can buy a box at any craft store for five or six dollars.

Popsicle sticks and glue are the basic ingredients, you can also throw in some acrylic paint, beads and fabric scraps to liven it up a bit. White school glue works for some projects, but a glue gun is immediate gratification...and kids are into immediate gratification.




Every one of my grandkids have made stuff with popsicle sticks; from boats and tents to collage pictures. When they are very small, 3 to 6 years, I help them with the glue gun and brainstorm with them for ideas on what to build. By the time they are older I hope I have instilled in them a sense of "what would happen if", and let them experiment to their hearts content. If it works ..great!!!.....if not then try another way.





If you ask me popsicle stick art is a form of folk art and once the kids starting having fun with them I ordered a fabulous lamp from Ebay so they could see how intricate their structures could become. I love this lamp!!