Now This is Folk Art!!!

Introducing a breath of fresh air...Jen Hardwick,  Jen is a Seattle-based artist that specializes in art assemblage pieces using a combination of new and recycled materials. Her work is just so fresh and creative. This is the kind of artist that I want to be when I grow up (...lol I am probably older than her.) And of course, Jen is self-taught. Amazing....

 

The Bee Collector

 

Scrap Bot

 

Man or Machine?

 

 

Salvage Bot

 



Paper Owl

 



 

Fish Fish

(This is my favorite one)

 

For more information about this incredible folk artist:

Jen Hardwick/redhardwick~Mixed Media
jen-hardwick.com
redheadhardwick@gmail.com

 

What is Contemporary Folk Art?

 

The purpose of this blog is to share with the world what is new and exciting in the contemporary folk art field. Before I do that, I feel it is best to define exactly what that is. By definition folk art is any art done by self taught artists. Historically, this has been art created by unskilled "naive." They would often recreate scenes of the rural country side or the environment of their culture.

Wikipedia defines folk art as:
art that encompasses artworks produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic.^[1] Folk Art is characterized by a naive style, in which traditional rules of proportion and perspective are not employed. Closely related terms are Outsider art, Self-Taught Art and Naïve.

This art genre is alive and well on the internet and all around us. It is loved and cherished by many because of the warmth and whimsical feel that it conveys to it's audience. To me, it is art in it's purest form. It is not influenced by current trends in the popular art field. These talented artists are not encumbered by the rules that many art students pay thousands of dollars to understand. This is raw talent born in the minds of people all over the world and brought to physical reality by what ever medium is available, be it paint and brushes or gears and buttons.

Through this blog, I hope to share the talents of unsung artists all over God's creation that don't get near enough exposure because they don't follow the norms of the art world or popular culture. Through my years as a folk artist myself, I have had the pleasure of meeting and hundreds of artists of this genre, some making a full time income and some just filling their internal voices to create.

Please feel free to contact me with any suggestions of artists to feature here. Until next time, stay weird my friends.

New Images Added to the Instant Download Library

I created this little painting some time ago. It is an example of the kind of painting that I want to get back to painting very soon. There was a story behind everything that was in the painting.  See what you can figure out. I would love to hear what you might think is going on!

Stay weird, Kori

New Painting

This week we are making up for lost time. The last couple of weeks, I have been very busy with visiting relatives and my son's birthday party. Now everything is back to normal and that is a really good feeling.
I have a commission to get started. However, I am excited to get started on new paintings. Nothing beats that feeling to me. Creating something new.
This painting is an 11x 14 acrylic on canvas with finished edges. It is for sale on Ebay under my id "mylittlecornerdesign" Wish me luck!

Working away...

This is what I am working on for Sunday. I finished the small quilt painting that I was working on last week which will be posted tonight on EBay.   Jesse's Tree that I posted a couple days ago is not for sale.  I am having a lot of fun in the studio this week because, I am working on a class schedule for my drawing class. I want to include a lot of the exercises included in "Drawing on the Right side of the BRain" by Betty Edwards. This book has made the connection from the brain to the paper.  I can't wait to share this with my classes.
I am still working on starting the online drawing "skype" classes. They should be up an running by the fall.

I am sick of painting snow people!!!!

 

Okay, I am ready to escape winter to a more colorful season. I am working on this piece to put up on Ebay tonight 8 pm est.
ID mylittlecornerdesign
I am going to be adding a lot of fun and excitement to the piece with people and animals. So, be sure to check it out on Ebay this week.
Stay warm!
Kori

I had a little time on my hands....

  

What a wonderful weekend!!! We stayed close to the house to let the kids recoup from their various illnesses.  I finished this piece that I painted last year. I stopped the painting in mid paint, so to speak.  It started as a acrylic paint on canvas.  Then, to change things up a little, I used colored pencils on paper to make the skaters. I wanted to make it a little more interesting. Then, I affixed the paper to the background. At that point, it was just two trees, the sky and the clothesline with a heart. For a year it sat in my studio like that......... What to do, What to do? ......... Today, I was feeling it. I put in a house a fence, dog, and some mittens and we have a story. The story is "Firsts." This is their first house, first winter, first skate, and first dog.  The firsts in life aren't always the best but, they are memorable. Hopefully, for these two, the first is magical!!!!  The original painting is for auction on EBay right now under my id "mylittlecornerdesign" Check it out!

What kind of people????

This is a piece that I am working on to place for sale at my website. I am not selling it cheap on EBay so, I can afford to take a little more time to add lots and lots of detail. This is what I love, the detail. However, I am having a hard time figuring out what kind of people I want to include and what they would be doing. I have a black lab, some swans, and a horse drinking from the lake already. What else should I include? Let me know if you have any ideas.

In the studio

Isn't this a great time of year?  This weekend we are looking forward to light up night in a nearby town.   Excitement is in the air! I haven't even started shopping or thinking about it.  So here I sit painting  the day away. What could be better?

These paintings listed above are two paintings that will be listed in separate auctions.   Probably, this Sunday. I am not sure. I may list them tonight.  I will be painting two more paintings this week to place on my website. I can't decide if I should go with a winter scene or a spring/summer. Let me know what you think.

Inspiration

     People ask me all the time where I get the ideas for my paintings. Well, that is something that has never been hard for me to find because, it is all around me. Small towns have always fascinated me.  As a child my father was a candy wholesaler. He would have routes all over western Pennsylvania.  All of the kids had to take turns going with him to work. It was kind of a hated chore but, it did have it's perks. For me, one of them was riding in his big truck and enjoying the townscapes.  I loved to see all of the different houses and wondered about the lives of the people inside.

     It is funny how things stick with you. I now ride along with my husband and look for eye catching houses. The one pictured above we found on our vacation to Ohio. I know that southern Ohio is not the normal summer escape for people but, we really enjoyed it. Bremen Ohio is one of those towns that has very little commercialism. Similar to a modern day Mayberry, very quaint friendly and clean.  I am using  a similar house in a painting I am working on now. 

What is FOLk Art?

   When I started to think about this blog, what it was going to be about,  what would drive it.... I decided that it would be important to define for my followers...What is folk art? It seems to me that there is some confusion as to what makes folk art different from the rest of the art out there roaming the world.

According to Webster's Dictionary, folk art is defined as artistic works, as paintings, sculpture, basketry, and utensils, produced typically in cultural isolation by untrained often anonymous artists or by artisans of varying degrees of skill and marked by such attributes as highly decorative design, bright bold colors, flattened perspective, strong forms in simple arrangements, and immediacy of meaning. Unfortunately, I find some problems with that definition.

Although, they are correct in stating the different mediums used in folk art, today's folk artists are highly skilled, some with or without formal training and the colors and arrangements are not primarily bold or simple.   There are many professional artists that made their entire careers using a folk art motif in their works. For example, Charles Wysocki and Jane Wooster Scott. Both artists were formally trained but, their work flourished in a folk art style. 

No I don't believe that folk art can be defined in the same way that it was even twenty years ago. Throughout the last decade, I believe that it has taken on a new attitude perhaps borrowed from it's cousin "outsider art." Folk art can now be defined in much looser terms. For instance, a style that is not influenced by movements in academics or fine art circles and not restrained by the tight grasp that the fine art world may consider art worthy.  

Todays folk artists are totally free to express their love of anything from angels to cute little puppies (yes even cats), whether or not it is deemed appropriate in the mainstream "art world."  That is the folk art that I love.  A true visual expression of thoughts, feelings and ideas of day to day life, a true power to the people story!  Folk art is art of the people, for the people!!!!