Re: The German paper cutter

For me, the key element is the dialectic and dialogue between the
community and the individual artist. The community controls the
aesthetic and all elements of the art form, sometimes accepting
innovation but more often rejecting it in favor of older forms. But
the individual artist is the life-long carrier of those art forms in
much the same way as they carry their own DNA. The artist’s
creativity is bound by community expectation.

Mary Hart is an artist and Arts’ organization have lots of programs
for artists. The fact that the particular art form she is working in
now ( and remember, this is her choice from an infinity of
possibilities) draws from a particular stream of German-speaking
history gives her no special consideration. Other than demonstrating
examples otherwise found in books, she has no connection to Folk Arts
at all. Actually, since she does not interact with any community
tradition bearers, she is not even a revivalist.

The problem arises when these artists want to access the money
available in Folk Arts programs, such as for apprentices, or help in
getting sales or gallery space.

One irony is that graphic artists probably do have their own folklore
made up of stories and legends of gallery owners, judges, materials
sources, famous frauds , etc. But, fo course, that is not what’s
involved here.

Really, Ms. Hart’s situation is no different than if she learned the
German language, from a book, and then applied to the German
government for citizenship based only on her book-knowledge of the
language.

This issue is a real problem in traditional music forms, especially
those forms with any commercial value. How many hundreds of urban
kids have made the pilgrimage to North Carolina to the grave of Tommy
Jarrell, and now with new bib overalls want to be seen as real
mountain fiddle players, complete with a recording contract.

Dennis Coelho
Cheyenne, Wyoming