"Guinea Fowl,” by the artist Cornbread, will be among the many pieces of folk and outsider art available at the 17th annual Folk Fest, scheduled for Aug. 20-22, 2010 in Norcross, Ga., just north of Atlanta.

NORCROSS, Ga. – Visitors will pour into Georgia from all around the country to see what’s hot in the world of folk art as Folk Fest—billed as “The World’s Greatest Self-Taught Art Show and Sale”—will celebrate 17 years in Atlanta with a three-day show slated for Aug. 20-22, 2010.

Folk Fest is where museums, prominent galleries, serious collectors and major art publications make their new discoveries. Attendees—ranging from housewives to Hollywood producers—will find items priced from a $5 starter piece to a $50,000 museum masterpiece. Folk Fest will be held at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross. Nearly 100 galleries and dealers will exhibit at the air conditioned, 85,000-square-foot venue.

Since its inception in 1994, Folk Fest has become the largest and most important event in the rapidly burgeoning folk art genre. Prestigious galleries and dealers from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe—all specializing in self-taught art, outsider art, Southern folk pottery, antique folk art and anonymous works—have regularly attracted 12,000 people or more.

As with previous Folk Fests, this year’s show will kick off with a Friday night meet-and-greet with the artists. Attendees of past events have mixed and mingled with some of the biggest names in folk art: Woodie Long, Charles Lucas, Cornbread, Michael Banks, Chris Clark, Willie Jinks, Mary Proctor, Ruby Williams, Michael Crocker, the Meaders family and many others.

Folk Fest has been staged from the start by Steve and Amy Slotin, owners of Slotin Folk Art, based in Gainesville, Ga. The couple regularly holds folk art auctions in addition to Folk Fest. It was Steve who got the folk art bug first, when he ran across an ugly, Lanier Meaders face jug near his childhood summer camp in Cleveland, Ga.

“I discovered there were primitive forms of pottery and art all over the South,” Steve Slotin said. “These incredible pieces were created by housekeepers, janitors, factory workers, farmers and house painters. They created art, but had very little formal education at all. They used found materials—rusty metal, stray sticks, discarded objects, leftover house paint, mud.”

A double-face jug by the late renowned folk artist Lanier Meaders.

"Cross,” by the late Mose Tolliver.

The art was pure and honest, beautiful in its simplicity and embodying the best the South had to offer. Slotin knew he’d found a treasure in his own back yard the day he saw that first face jug. He created Folk Fest to share it with the world. He advertised the very first event in a prominent folk art magazine, without a show date, a venue or even a single exhibitor signed up.

“I took this enormous leap of faith,” he said, “believing that if I could just share this primitive art, this local treasure with others, they would appreciate it as much as I did.” His gamble paid off. Exhibitors signed up and on opening night 6,000 enthusiastic people packed the auditorium. Over the course of its 16-year history, Folk Fest has doubled in size and attendance.

Slotin said that despite folk art’s emergence as a legitimate and popular art form (it’s regularly displayed at the prestigious High Museum in Atlanta), he still finds himself having to explain to people exactly what folk art is. Generally, folk art (also referred to as self-taught art or outsider art) includes paintings, sculptures and Southern pottery—some of it anonymous works.

“For a long time this art has been kept outside the mainstream art community,” Slotin explained. “Self-taught art is the most important visual culture America has ever produced. And it’s not country crafts, duck decoys or split-cane baskets. It is highly personal art. It’s religiously inspired paintings, crude tin cutouts, wood-relief carvings and environmental sculpture gardens.”

"Blue Cat,” by renowned folk artist Bill Traylor.

"Snake Handlers,” by Fred Webster.

And it’s usually created from refuse and other found objects. “Self-taught artists don’t seek out the art world,” Slotin observed. “The art world, collectors and dealers passionately seek them out. Their art is done by untrained people who draw on their culture and experiences in an isolated world. It’s made with a true, untutored, creative passion, raw and totally original.”

Artistically acclaimed acceptance has caused the folk art genre to blossom. But, ironically, its very existence is threatened by the inevitable urbanization and population of the onetime habitat of self-taught artists: rural areas. The purpose of Folk Fest, Slotin said, is to celebrate these artists and share with the public an art culture whose roots may soon disappear.

Sadly, over the years Folk Fest has had to say good-bye to many of folk art’s more celebrated masters, legends like Howard Finster, Leroy Almon, Mose Tolliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, R.A. Miller and Steve Slotin’s first find, Lanier Meaders. But the enthusiasm for folk art continues to strengthen, as visitors pour into Atlanta to add unique pieces to their collections.

"Angel,” by perhaps the most famous folk artist of all time, Howard Finster.

Folk Fest will begin on Friday, Aug. 20, with the Meet-the-Artists Party & Show Opening, from 5-10 p.m. ($15 includes readmission). The Aug. 21-22 show hours are 10-7 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday. Admission is $7 both days. Children 16 and under are free. The North Atlanta Trade Center is located at 1700 Jeurgens Court in Norcross.

For more information, call 770.532.1115 or visit the Slotin Folk Art Web site.

———————————

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.

This oil on canvas by Mattie Lou O'Kelley, titled “Watermelon Cutting” is expected to bring between $20,000 and $30,000 at a Folk Art auction hosted by Slotin Auciton on May 1-2, 2010 in Buford, Ga.

BUFORD, Ga. – A two-day sale featuring more than 1,000 lots by self-taught artists featuring Southern folk pottery, outsider art, African-American decorative arts, quilts and circus art, as well as new discoveries and contents from major collections will be held May 1-2, 2010 by Slotin Auction.

The sale will be held in the Historic Buford Hall, located at 112 East Shadburn Ave. in Buford, starting promptly at 10 a.m. Headlining the event will be the prestigious folk art collections of Karen and Werner Gundersheimer and Roger Schlaifer. Both collections have been widely exhibited and illustrated. Many of the works were highlighted in the book “American Folk Art of the Twentieth Century” by Jay Johnson and William Ketchum, Jr. The auction will read like a “who’s who” in folk art.

Almost every artist featured in Johnson and Ketchum’s landmark book will be represented in the auction. The sale will also feature an ambitious fundraiser for Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; the Clay Morrison Estate (to benefit the School of Art Institute of Chicago); and property of the Columbus Museum of Art (for its acquisition fund).

Some expected top lots of the auction follow, with accompanying high and low estimates.

An oil on canvas painting by Georgia artist Mattie Lou O’Kelley (1908-1997), titled “The Watermelon Cutting,” signed and dated 1979, is expected to bring $20,000-$30,000. The work served as cover art for William Ketchum’s book “American Folk Art.” Also sold will be a 1978 work by O’Kelley titled “Spotted Cat” (est. $8,000-$12,000), which appeared in Life Magazine.

This mixed media work by Sister Gertrude Morgan, “The Great Now Jerusalem” will sell for an estimated $30,000-$40,000.

A large (40 inches by 15.5 inches), museum-quality mixed media on paper rendering by Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980), titled “The Great Now Jerusalem,” featuring Sister Gertrude marrying Jesus, has been conservatively estimated at $30,000-$40,000. The paint, acrylic, tempera and ballpoint pen on paper work depicts angels and dinner table detail and is signed.

Six works by Clementine Hunter (1886-1988) will cross the block, including “Madona (sic) of the Lilies,” a large paint on board work executed in the 1950s and recently exhibited at the African American Museum in Dallas. The 23-inch by 19-inch painting (larger in its gilded frame) includes authentication papers from Shelby Gilley, and is expected to command $8,000-$12,000.

A China plate teeth face jug (circa late 1960s), attributed to Lanier Meaders, should bring between $3,000 and $5,000.

The auction will feature 23 works by the talented and prolific potters from the Meaders family. A china plate teeth face jug by Lanier Meaders was the top lot at Slotin’s last Southern Fold Pottery Auction in November, bringing $8,855. This sale will feature another china plate teeth face jug, attributed to Lanier (circa late 1960s) and in mint condition (est. $3,000-$5,000).

This enamel on board beauty by Howard Finster, titled "There Were Just Enough,” will cross the block on May 1-2 (est. $5,000-$8,000).

What would a Slotin Auction be without Howard Finster (1916-2001) piece? This auction has 26 renderings by the artist, including an enamel on board beauty titled “There Were Just Enough” (est. $5,000-$8,000). The pre-1976 work was exhibited at the Philadelphia Art Alliance Show titled “Howard Finster, Man of Vision,” and was featured in a pair of authoritative folk art books.

Oil on board work by Red Grooms, titled “Bill Traylor and Fighting Dogs” (est. $5,000-$7,000).

An oil on board by Red Grooms, titled “Bill Traylor and Fighting Dogs,” acquired from the Marlborough Gallery, N.Y., is expected to hit $5,000-$7,000. An ink and watercolor on paper by David Hockney, titled “Family Outing,” should make $2,000-$4,000. And “No. 74, The Tragic Fire at Bucks Stables, Independence, Indiana,” by Tella Kitchens, should breeze to $7,000-$10,000.

“Welcoming Lady,” a 6-foot-tall painted cement sculpture by an anonymous maker (circa 1920s) should rise to $4,000-$6,000. Additional artists of note in the sale include Frank Jones, Joseph Yoakum, S.L. Jones, Raymond Coins, Sam Doyle, Thornton Dial, Charlie Willeto, George Lopez, Felipe Archuleta, Robert St. Brice, Forrest King Moses and Edgar Tolson.

Also represented in the sale will be William Dawson, Jesse Howard, Eddie Arning, Bryan McNutt, Justin McCarthy, Victor Joseph Gatto, Andrea Badami, Lawrence Lebduska, Gustav Klumpp, James Castle, Chief Wiley, Frog Smith, Stephen Huneck, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, Robert Brady (nudes), Teofilo Magliocchi (sensual pencil drawings) and many others.

The auction will also feature some rare and special treats, like the anonymous water hose-powered whirligig (circa 1940s), a Flemish Impressionist work by Edmond Verstraeten (1870-1956), an original study by Norman Rockwell, circus freak show banners, African American juke joint signs, ledger drawings (circa 1833), and works of mid-century modernism.

Additional surprises will include contemporary art by Todd Murphy, profound art by Monji, Jewish folk art from Burma, Day of Dead masks, skeletons and costumes, newly acquired drawings by Boykin Richardson (circa 1950s), African American quilts, industrial skull molds, a real North Georgia moonshine still and a drivable 1992 folk art van, painted by Sam McMillan.

For more information about this auction, call 770.532.1115, e-mail to auction [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com or visit the Slotin Auction web site.

———————————

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.

A paint-on-board creation by the renowned late folk artist Howard Finster, executed in 1983, is among the items collected by folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram that will go on auction on Nov. 7.

BUFORD, Ga. – A Fall Masterpiece Auction, featuring around 800 lots of self-taught art, Southern folk pottery, outsider art, African-American decorative arts, quilts, circus art, new discoveries, major collections and more, including the lifetime collection of prestigious folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram, will be held Saturday, Nov. 7.

About two-thirds of the auction will be dedicated to Ingram’s collection, most of which has been in storage for 30 years. The auction will be facilitated by Slotin Auction at the Historic Buford Hall.

“Our Fall Masterpiece Auction is always a special event on our calendar, but this year we feel particularly fortunate to have as the centerpiece the collection of Lynne Ingram,” said Steve Slotin of Slotin Auction.

Latex on plywood panel painting by Mose Tolliver, titled “Saturday Night Dance Hall” (circa 1989).

Ingram now lives in New Jersey but is originally from North Carolina. Beginning in the 1980s, she started collecting folk art when the genre was still in its relative infancy. But she didn’t just passively acquire pieces. She actually traveled around the Southeast and visited the artists, who became her friends. All the while she was amassing an outstanding collection, Slotin said.

“Lynne Ingram saw the best that these artists had to offer, and she acquired much of it along the way,” he added. “She later expanded her collection to include earlier masters who had already passed on, like Bill Traylor, but she had a keen eye for emerging second-tier artists of the day, too—talents like Mose Tolliver and Jimmy Lee Sudduth. Hers is an unbelievable, top-shelf collection.”

Slotin said the collection is made more desirable by the fact that it’s been in a New Jersey storage facility, untouched and in pristine condition, for the better part of the last 30 years. “So what you have are impressive examples of the best names in folk art, offered to the market for the very first time. Collectors would be wise to make plans to attend this sale. Stuff like this doesn’t come along that often.”

Some expected top lots of the auction follow, along with their low and high sale estimates:

Paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, titled “Mexican Woman,” 100% original.

• A paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, signed on the front and titled “Mexican Woman,” is expected to bring $25,000-$35,000. Ingram acquired the framed piece in the mid-’80s from Marcia Weber, a world-renowned expert on Traylor and an early promoter of his work. This painting is considered significant because it is 100-percent original, with no re-touches or restoration.

• A colored pencil on paper creation by Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930) was the top lot at Slotin Auctions’ last sale, held in March. It realized $40,480. This sale features another example by the Swiss self-taught artist: a graphite, pastel and colored pencil on paper work titled “The Lion and the Masked Man.” It is a strong piece in excellent condition, and carries a conservative estimate of $30,000-$35,000.

• The name Howard Finster (1916-2001) is sure to get paddles wagging, and this sale features a beauty by the late iconic folk artist. It is a paint on board work housed in an artist signature wood burned frame, titled “Vision of Cartoon Howard Finster, #3,169” (Dec. 1983). The painting measures 32 ½ inches wide by 16 inches tall. This piece was originally in the prestigious collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak (est. $4,000-$6,000).

• A carved and painted wood creation by S.L. Jones (1901-1997), titled “Man’s Bust,” should fetch $8,000-$15,000. “It’s one of the best examples of Jones’ work I’ve ever seen,” Slotin said of the 10-inch by 7-inch by 13½-inch work, in excellent condition. Also, a 1976 oil on canvas painting by Vestie Davis (1903-1978), “Hasidic Street Scene,” large at 51 inches by 27 inches, should bring $4,000-$6,000.

Hand-turned china plate teeth face jug by Lanier Meaders, crafted in 1968, with tobacco-split glaze.

• Lanier Meaders is another name familiar to veterans of the folk art scene. His hand-turned painted face jugs are renowned, and this sale will feature a china plate teeth face jug, crafted by Meaders in 1968 and with a beautiful tobacco-split glaze. The piece boasts great veining all around and measures 9 inches in height. The face has three teeth and the jug is in overall mint condition. It should sell for $3,000-$5,000.

• Bidding should be brisk for a paint-on-board by Teofilo Magliocchi, titled “Madonna and Child.” The signed work features a frame decorated with costume jewelry adornments. It is a very large piece—47 inches by 75 inches, including the frame (est. $3,000-$5,000). Other works, including a collection of erotic pencil drawings by Magliocchi, an exciting up-and-coming folk artist, will also be offered.

• The aforementioned Mose Tolliver will be represented in the form of a latex on plywood panel work done circa 1989 and titled “Saturday Night Dance Hall.” The 36-inch by 40-inch piece is estimated to bring $2,000-$3,000. Also, a paint, glitter, lettering, mixed media on Masonite work by African-American sign maker John Edward Welch, titled “Abraham Lincoln, It Would Help to Save the Union” (1999), should realize $1,000-$1,500.

Original paint on board work by up-and-coming artist Teofilo Magliocchi, titled “Madonna and Child.”

Folk art is a rambling but rapidly burgeoning genre. For a long time it was dismissed by highbrow critics, mainly because it was created by untrained, often uneducated and sometimes eccentric artists. But today, folk art has found a place in some of the most well-respected art institutions in the world. The High Museum in Atlanta has acquired folk art through Slotin sales.

For more information about this auction, call (770) 532-1115 or (404) 403-4244, e-mail to auction [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com or folkfest [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com, or visit the Slotin Auction Web site.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.