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Category: Folk Art

Artist creating street art during COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID Recollections: “Walls Speak and People Need to Listen” – An Interview with Dr. Heather Shirey and Dr. Todd Lawrence about the COVID-19 Street Art Archive

Posted by: Douglas D. Peach

In this COVID Recollections post, we continue to commemorate the 5th anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by highlighting the COVID-19 Street Art Archive—an online, archival collection of street art related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This post features an interview with Dr. Heather Shirey (Professor of Art History, University of St. Thomas) and Dr. Todd Lawrence (Associate Professor of English, University of St. Thomas), who created the COVID-19 Street Art archive. Shirey and Lawrence discuss their inspiration for the archive, their favorite items in the collection, and their thoughts on archiving art that is intended to be temporary. The COVID-19 Street Art Archive is just one of many collections available on the American Folklife Center's COVID-19 Research Guide. Find more at https://guides.loc.gov/covid-19-folklife.

Photo of photographer Tom Pich speaking into microphone.

American Folklife Center Acquires Collection of Tom Pich—Renowned Photographer of Traditional Artists

Posted by: Douglas D. Peach

The American Folklife Center recently acquired the collection of Tom Pich—an acclaimed photographer of traditional artists. Pich is best known for his photographs of recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship—the nation's highest honor in the traditional arts presented annually by the National Endowment for the Arts. In this celebratory post, AFC Folklife Specialist Nancy Groce highlights the importance of this acquisition, contextualizes Tom Pich's work, and details the beauty of his photographs.

Los Herederos, a 2023 Community Collections Grant Recipient, Opens Exhibit in New York City Subway Station

Posted by: Douglas D. Peach

In this post, Nancy Groce (Senior Folklife Specialist, American Folklife Center) highlights a new exhibition organized by Los Herederos -- a 2023 recipient of a Community Collections Grant (CCG) from the American Folklife Center -- that celebrates the cultural diversity of Queens, New York.