What is now North Carolina has seen a variety of folk arts and crafts over the years, including paintings, pottery, wood carvings, sculptures, and even tombstones. Various cultural traditions can be found in the state, and some of these have been highlighted in this primary source set on folk arts and crafts.
Folklife and traditions like folk arts and crafts help people to form and define their identities and better understand how they relate to others. By examining folk arts and crafts, this source set aims to show the variety of folklife and traditions found in the state and asks us to examine our own relationship to folklife and each other. Below are some highlights of the types of folk arts and crafts that can be learned about in this new primary source set.
Folk music is one of the first examples of folk art and folklife that many people name. Recognized for their contributions to continuing folk music traditions, cousins Joe and Odell Thompson recount their experiences in this oral history transcript.
Another typical example people might think of would be pottery. Here, Aunt Sophie Campbell is smoking one of her clay pipes, which she would make and sell to tourists and hikers on the Appalachian Trail. People from both Western North Carolina and East Tennessee remember her as she lived along the border near Gatlinburg, TN.
Perhaps an atypical example, North Carolina has a tradition of folk art in tombstone carving. Tombstone makers took simple grave markers and created intricate ornamentation through images, embellishments, and long script carefully carved into stone. Here, Reverend Albert Clement’s granddaughters stand with his tombstone, an example of this folk art.
These primary sources seek to highlight a sliver of the folklife traditions around arts and crafts that people here have been developing. It also asks us to think more deeply about our own histories and what folk traditions mean to us today. Enjoy exploring some of the interesting folk arts and crafts that have been and continue to be practiced in our communities!
