One Hour at the American Folk Art Museum's 'Folk Nation' Exhibit

MUSEUM GUIDE | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA

In this series, we travel the world's great museums, large and small, through the eyes of Cabana Curators, asking one question: if you had only an hour to spare, what would you see? This week, Dr. Emelie Gevalt, Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial and Program Officer at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, takes Cabana on a journey through America's many identities; from visions of liberty and industry to intimate records of family, faith, and belief.

INTERVIEW BY LUCREZIA LUCAS  | CABANA TRAVEL | 9 APRIL 2026

Needlework Picture c.1820 Silk, chenille, graphite, and metallic thread on silk 5 x 8 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Museum purchase with funds provided by Elizabeth V. and Irwin Warren.

“Candid, genuine, and unexpected”—the American Folk Art Museum prides itself in celebrating the creativity of artists whose talents were shaped by lived experience rather than formal training. 

Folk Nation: Crafting Patriotism in the United States, opening this April, explores how vernacular art has helped shape ideas of American identity. Drawing from the museum’s rich collection, the exhibition brings together works spanning four centuries—from painted portraits and textiles to carvings and commemorative sculpture—to examine themes across America’s layered identity and its historical memory.

Celebrating the United States’ semiquincentennial—the nation’s 250th anniversary—Folk Nation reflects on how the concept of “folk art” itself has evolved, revealing the complex ways objects have been used to construct, celebrate, and question narratives of nationhood. Curator Emelie Gevalt, PhD, highlights eight objects from the exhibition. 

Miss Liberty Reaches Out to Welcome the Persecuted, 1990

Reverend Benjamin Franklin Perkins (1904–1993). Miss Liberty Reaches Out to Welcome the Persecuted, March 17, 1990. Oil on canvas, 31 1/2 × 19 1/2 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Audrey B. Heckler.

In this work, the Reverend Benjamin Franklin Perkins demonstrates the enduring emblematic power of “Lady Liberty” through a colorful re-envisioning of New York City’s celebrated monument. In multiple iterations of this composition, Perkins emblazoned his figure with painted phrases calling attention to values held dear by generations of Americans, such as the “liberty to pursue happiness, ” and to the nation’s reputation as a “land of opportunity. ” The exuberance of the painting matches the hopeful symbolism of the Statue of Liberty and its placement—historically powerful, especially for immigrants entering New York Harbor and catching sight of the United States for the first time.

However, with one of the artist's inscriptions— “yours to choose: this is America” —Perkins also seems to offer a challenge to the viewer, perhaps reminding us of the importance of personal participation in democratic process.

Situation of America, 1848

Situation of America, 1848. Oil on wood panel, 34 × 58 1/2 × 1 3/8 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Ralph Esmerian.

In this mid-nineteenth-century painting entitled Situation of America, 1848, the New York City waterfront provides the focus for an optimistic vision of urban and industrial progress. But the bright colors and ordered layout belie the ugly history that gave shape to American affluence, especially during this period: the country’s reliance on enslaved labor, which is only subtly referenced in the painting’s undulating border resembling cotton blossoms.

Figured Doublecloth Coverlet, 1829

Figured Doublecloth Coverlet, 1829. Cotton and wool, 98 3/4 × 73 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Birgit Lorentzen.

The maker of this coverlet literally wove a sense of American patriotism into their design, adorning it with national symbols and a bold inscription. Dated July 4th, 1829, the work celebrates American farming and industry, proudly proclaiming: “Agriculture and manufactures are the foundation of our independence.

Portrait of Frederick A. Gale, c. 1815.

Ammi Phillips (1788–1865). Portrait of Frederick A. Gale, c. 1815. Oil on canvas, 44 3/4 × 24 1/4 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Lucy and Mike Danziger in honor of Peter Tillou, Jason Busch, and Emelie Gevalt for their contributions to the appreciation of American Folk Art.

Family has historically been central to how Americans have imagined themselves and their place within a changing nation. The portrait seen here is an example of how early American artists and artisans gave tangible form to kinship and family identity by creating material records that join personal relationships with public ideals.

As new markets for portraiture expanded, Americans embraced opportunities once reserved for the elite, generating likenesses and other visual affirmations of their place in a shifting social order. Portraitists like Ammi Phillips offered their services across rural communities, representing the aspirations of a growing middle class.

Taufschein for Elisabeth Eyster, c. 1780

Taufschein for Elisabeth Eyster, c. 1780. Watercolor and ink on paper, 8 3/4 × 6 3/4 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Anonymous gift.

Artists also documented family relationships, transforming lineage into ornament through hand-drawn records, such as a family register. This example is a Pennsylvania German Taufschein, or baptismal certificate.

Stevens Trunk, c. 1825

Stevens Tinshop (active 1798–1842), possibly Zachariah Brackett Stevens (1778–1856) and attributed to Sally Brisco Francis Stevens (1799–1890). Trunk, c. 1825. Paint on tinned sheet iron, 5 3/8 × 9 1/2 × 4 7/8 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of the Historical Society of Early American Decoration.

Folk art is often infused with a deep sense of the past, reflecting powerful links between American identity and historical memory. For instance, a paint-decorated tinware trunk not only gestures to domestic life and industry in early nineteenth-century Maine but also captures the semimystical connection felt by a later, twentieth-century owner of the object, Americana scholar Esther Stevens Brazer.

Herself a practitioner of traditional decorative painting techniques, Brazer expressed awe upon discovering her family connection to tinsmith Zachariah Brackett Stevens, her great-great-grandfather: “Perhaps this inheritance is responsible for the pride I take in matching the skill of old-time craftsmen. ” Like Brazer, many Americans connect their personal sense of self with the artifacts of earlier generations.

Dowitcher. c. 1890

Charles Sumner Bunn or (1865–1952) or William Bowman (1824–1906). Dowitcher. c. 1890. Painted wood with glass eyes. 10 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 2 5/8 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Alastair B. Martin.

Native American material culture has often been entangled in such nostalgic frameworks—though it has also often been excluded from American histories altogether. Wildfowl decoys offer a complex case study of these tendencies. Quite possibly made by Charles Sumner Bunn, a Shinnecock man, this example speaks to the Native history of these ingenious objects, crafted for thousands of years as part of hunting practices. But the form’s Indigenous origin story is sometimes subsumed (knowingly or not) by the celebration of later wildfowl carving traditions adopted by European Americans. This particular bird was long firmly attributed to a white man named William Bowman, but debates are ongoing about the true maker’s identity.

William Edmondson (1874–1951). Angel, 1937

William Edmondson (1874–1951). Angel, 1937. Limestone, 18 3/8 × 13 × 6 1/2 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Audrey B. Heckler.

Religious and spiritual traditions have long galvanized the production of American folk art. Across cultures, artists have transformed raw materials into vessels of devotion—using art to materialize their faith, to heal, and to connect earthly experience with the divine.

A sculptor of gravestones, garden ornaments, and other figurative works, William Edmondson began carving at age 60 after, as he recalled, Jesus “planted the seed of carving in me.” Working with discarded limestone and using repurposed tools, such as chisels made from railroad spikes, his stone sculptures were born of his enduring Christian faith.

In 1937, Edmondson became the first African American artist to receive a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art—a landmark show that introduced his work to a national audience. Soon after its founding in the 1960s, the American Folk Art Museum honored him with its first monographic show. Today, Edmondson’s art remains foundational to the recognition of 20th-century Black Southern makers within the American canon of self-taught artists.

Folk Nation: Crafting Patriotism in the United States
on view April 10 - September 13, 2026, American Folk Art Museum
NEW YORK, USA