Folk My Life Exhibition Announcement
Opening Reception: Friday, July 22, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Curated by David C. Terry, Director of Grants & Exhibitions, NYFA Curatorial proudly presents Folk My Life, an exhibition featuring NYFA Fellows and Finalists in the Folk/Traditional Arts category.
Title: Folk My Life
Opening Reception: Friday, July 22, 2016, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, performance by Vít Hořejš at 7:30 PM
Exhibition Dates: Friday, July 22, 2016 – Friday, October 21, 2016
Location: NYFA Gallery, 20 Jay Street, Suite 740, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Opening reception is open to the public.
Established in 2012, the Folk/Traditional Arts category is the Artists’ Fellowship Program’s newest offered discipline, acknowledging the significant work contributed by artists who are self-taught or practicing within a cultural community or tradition.
Folk My Life, opening at NYFA Gallery on Friday, July 22, showcases the artwork of six visual artists: Carrie Hill, Mary Tooley Parker, Zhong-Hua Lu, Hongyi He, Kesler Pierre, and Bonnie Gale, as well as video performances from Wang Guowei, Camille Yeung, and Vít Hořejš.
Infusing a contemporary narrative into their respective cultural traditions, these artists work in various methods that include willow basket weaving, intricate Chinese paper cuts and water colors, Haitian Voodou Bottle making and depictive hooked rugs. Video footage of performances include a marionette production from Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre founder, Vít Hořejš, a Cantonese Opera-Sword Dance from Camille Yeung, and music from Wang Guowei & Friends, a re-invention of the traditional Chinese ensemble.
A special live performance of The New World Symphony: Dvořák in America, featuring beautifully crafted marionettes by Vít Hořejš, Founder of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, will take place during the opening reception beginning at 7:30 PM on July 22.
Find out more about NYFA’s Curatorial Services for organizations and the Artists’ Fellowship Program, a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant awarded to individual artists living and working in the state of New York.
NYFA’s Artists’ Fellowships are administered with leadership support from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a State agency.
Images, from top: Mary Tooley Parker (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ‘15), American Graphic, 2016; Kesler Pierre (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ‘12), Three Ogous; Bonnie Gale (Fellow in Crafts/Sculpture ’99), Creel; Vít Hořejš (Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts ’12), image still from Johannes Dokchtor Faust, The Petrifying Puppet Comedye
