On WIOX tonight, February 27 at 7 pm, Women in Folk Art

Join Ginny Scheer, folklorist and Executive Director of Catskills Folk Connection, on Catkills Folk to talk about "Anonymous Was A Woman", a book published in the 1970s, that still has insights for women today.  It was written by Mirra Bank, a documentary filmmaker who created a PBS special of the same name.  Learn about ordinary women's aesthetic and artistic accomplishments by listening at 91.3 FM or at www.wioxradio.org.  

To see some of the folk art Ginny will talk about deep this blog open on your laptop, on your computer, or on your cell phone and stay right here . We'll be looking at and discussing the quilt below and other woman-made folk art (in the article further below) and you'll be able to follow along.

See you on the radio!  (to quote Charles Osgood, the late radio and TV commentator who explored the America of ordinary people.) 

  

Folk Art Illuminates Past Lives of Women.

 

                                           

Tonight Tuesday February 13 at 7 p.m. on WIOX Community Radio (91.3. FM or www.wioxradio.org) Catskills Folk Connection's radio program Catskills Folk will initiate a discussion of a classic book,  "Anonymous Was A Woman" by Mirra Bank.  It was published in 1979 when Bank was beginning her career as a creator of documentary videos. She hsd just produced a PBS video documentary with the same title, and felt that she should share as a book the primary source materials on which she based the video documentary.  Folklorist Ginny Scheer will discuss the beginnig of the book tonight and will invite a limited number of listeners to appear on the air in two weeks on February 27 to give their insights into the rest of the book. Contact Ginny at 607-326-4206 or 607-238-9162 or gscheer.mcs@gmail.com if you would like to be a discussant..

Here are some of the primary sources, in both words and in images, of the folk art created by women in the 18th and 19th centuries.     

       

Lucy Perkins, Pastel Portrait by Sara Perkins

               

Diary of Elizabeth Fuller, 1791-1792

Sampler by Mary Antrim

Introduction to "Anonymous Was A Woman" by Mirra Bank

All illustrations and teexts above are for educational use only.  Plese do not copy or re-use.

Blog Emerging from Hibernation

 After we posted early in 2023 that Catskills Folk Connection had finally obtained its designation as a 501.c.3 non-proft, the blog was allowed to stay as it was, having docmented many years of programming while CFC was a fiscally sponsored project.  The blog is still available for you to scroll through past programs and look at collections of photographs ( In the Gallery see Halloween projects from 2013 and from before CFC was even founded.)  Today, February 13 at 7 p.m., the blog will assume a new use - illustrating audio programs on CFC's radio show, Catskills Folk either at 91.3 FM or at www.wioxradio.org. The topic is a book called "Anonymous Was A Woman", and the blog will share some illustrations and some quotes from the book.  Join us to hear how folk art can be a primary source for understanding passt lives.

While we got away from using the blog, we did begin to work with Facebook. Our page has some unusual pathways, so feel free to give us feedback on how you were able to find it.  Note: If you find a profile photo of people dancing, you have the old Facebook page.  If you see Joe Dibble's beautifully carved brown trout at the top of the Facebook page, you have arrived! 

Later this winter, watch for the launch of Catskills Folk Connection's new website that will releive this blog of announcing events.  It will be a very simple, homemade website for now, perhaps only a landing page.  We will use it to make sure you know when square dances are scheduled, when CFC will sponsor food demonstrations by Catskills tradition bearers, when this fall's exhibit, Folk Art in Fiber, will take place, and when we might be holding our lecture series, Catskills Folk Lyceum,  Last year's Lyceum featured two presentations: a talk by Diane Galusha about the experiencs of enslaved Africans in Delaware County, and a panel of Native American speakers and language teachers who discussed the revitalization of their languages and then taught us a few words in Seneca, Mohawk and  Northern Cheyenne.  We hope to gain funding to present a follow up Lyceum this year featuring the next generation of Native language teachers from public and tribal schools. 

But don't watch this blog for event announcements. If you don't find the website just yet, or if you want to convey your experience with CFC's Facebook presence, feel free to contact folklorist Ginny Scheer, 607-326-4206 or 607-238-9162; or gscheer.mcs@gmail.com.