touring exhibitions
MOVERS & MAKERS: DORIS ULMANN'S PORTRAIT OF THE CRAFT REVIVAL IN APPALACHIA
The ebb and flow of creative activity that took place in Appalachia between 1896 and 1937 began with the first Homespun Fair held on the Berea College campus and extended to the publication of Allen Eaton's study Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands. During this period, the US was undergoing a national identity crisis.
Did America have a culture of its own or was it simply an imitation of England's? Craft revival leaders--the "movers" of the movement--proposed that the nation reconsider pioneer-style handwork found in the southern mountains as a pure form of American culture. Here--in linsey-woolsey coverlets, in white oak baskets, in hand-carved animals--we might, at last, find a true American style.
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Photo: Doris Ulmann's portrait of Allen Eaton, author of Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, photo courtesy of the John C. Campbell Folk School.
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Movers & Makers: Doris Ulmann's Portrait of the Craft Revival in Appalachia is an exhibition that tells this fascinating story. Utilizing Ulmann's portraits as a primary set of images, each photograph is part of a larger interpretive panel. Panels provide biographical material about "movers," "makers" and Ulmann herself. Interpretation focuses on specific themes: outside influences, Appalachian identity, the development of social work and "mountain" work, the condition of women, mission schools, settlement schools, industrial education, folk schools, the emergence of "folk," Country Life movement, and the "handicraft" object. Together, these themes cover a range of issues to broaden one's understanding of the revival as a social phenomenon, an economic incentive, and an aesthetic movement.
Tour schedule:
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June 20, 2003-January 18, 2004
spring/summer 2004
fall 2004
spring 2005
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History Museum of Western Virginia
Galax-Carroll Regional Library
available
available
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Movers & Makers developed in cooperation with:
Curatorial InSight
History Museum of Western Virginia,
John C. Campbell Folk School
Berea College Archives
and support from
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Virginia Commission for the Arts.
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CONTACT US @ Curatorial InSight 540-382-3946 fariello@vt.edu
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