Folk Art and Folk Music Speakers

presented by

at the

Catskills Folk Lyceum

Saturday, October 22, 2 p.m.

 Roxbury Arts Center, 5025 Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury 12474



Jim Kimball, Ethnomusicologist SUNY Geneseo

Speaking on "Old-Time Tunes and Dances

in Rural New York



Varick Chittenden, Director Emeritus of

 Traditional Arts in Upstate New York

Speaking on "Folklore is in Our Nature"

Also on view, an exhibit of folk art landscapes

 "Growing Up To Brush"

Featuring artists Nellie Bly Ballard and Don Strausser

What gives Catskills folk art, music and dance their Catskills flavor?  Are they distinct or are they about the same as folk art, music and dance in other regions of New York State?

On October 22, at 2 p.m. at the Roxbury Arts Center, Catskills Folk Connection introduces the Catskills Folk Lyceum, a set of talks by renowned New York State specialists who will address folk expression in painting, sculpture, fiddling and square dancing in their regions and in the Catskills. 

Varick Chittenden’s talk,  “Folklore is in Our Nature,” will explore the relationship between folk art and the natural environment, with examples from the North Country/Adirondacks as well as the Catskills, showing “common ground shared by our regions, [and] continuities and changes over time in local folk life and folk art.”  Chittenden, a folklorist, is the founding director, now emeritus, of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, and emeritus professor at SUNY Canton.

Jim Kimball’s talk “Old Time Tunes and Dances in Rural New York”  will offer “stories and comparisons about round, square and contra dancing from different regions of New York” including the Catskills.   Kimball is an ethnomusicologist who teaches at SUNY Geneseo and who specializes in old-time music, plays the fiddle, and calls square dances.

Kimball contributed important information and photographs to Catskills Folk Connection’s recent publication of the CD “Tunes I Learned From My Dad” featuring the late Hilt Kelly on the fiddle and his wife Stella Kelly on the piano.  The CD will be available for purchase at the Catskills Folk Lyceum on Saturday, October 22, 2 p.m., at the Roxbury Arts Center, 5025 Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury, NY  12474.

Catskills Folk Connection is sponsored by the Roxbury Arts Group and is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Council for the Humanities, Gov. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the O’Connor Foundation.  Contact: vscheer@juno.com 607-746-3521.  For more information: www.catskillsfolkconnection.blogspot.com