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Arts |
| In 1984 the Folk Arts Program
began to identify, collect, and document traditional arts and craftwork
produced by farmworkers from several ethnic communities represented on
the migrant stream. Most work on folk arts is done in area camps; some
research has also been conducted in migrants home base communities.
Because farmworkers travel light, the Center often helps artists acquire the materials and tools they need. Their art has been shown in local, regional, and national exhibits organized by the Center. |
| Other arts services provided
by the Center include the Migrant Literature Project, which brings poets
and fiction writers to camps to read their work and conduct writing
workshops with farmworkers.
The Migrant Arts Model (MAM), funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, is working with Gertrude Houston Productions to develop a video and materials for national dissemination of the Center's arts programs. |
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Canes James Scrivens was born in Alabama in 1962. He is a self-taught woodcarver, producing elegant walking sticks decorated with carvings, burns, and faux jewels. Interviewed in a potato camp in Wyoming County, James said of his work: "I go in the woods and look for a tree, a branch, that says something to me. I cut it off, take it home, and carve. Every mark on there means something!" Although James Scrivens, Otis Green, and other African-American artists understand their art as personal and spontaneous, they work in an ancient African tradition. The sky serpent or rainbow snake in West African art connects heaven with earth and water. Canes in Africa are symbols of traditional authority. In the camp, the cane asserts prideful identity and street-smart sophistication. |
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