Art vs Craft...a dialogue (2)

I enjoyed the recent article in the WSJ:  "Roadside Kitch is Fun, but Is It Art?  Virginia Museum Sure Hopes So" (Sept. 22, 2011)

Reading thru the article, it seems that the Taubman Museum of Art (in Roanoke, VA) is having trouble bringing in patrons to view their collection of "traditional art" (a permanent collection that boasts works from American landscape maestro Winslow Home and abstract painter Robert Motherwell) and feels it can broaden it's appeal by focusing on some local "folk art". 

In reaching out to folk artists, the Taubman "seeks an overall image makeover that acknowledges the need to connect across a steep aesthetic divide with the community."

I find the move to include more local art (described in the article as "folk art") is somewhat condescending at best but a smart move nonetheless. 

"Shakespeare sometimes played to the groundlings. I guess we have to do some of that too," says William Rutherfoord, a Roanoke painter and art historian, making reference to English theater audiences that included the poor.  Yet Mr. Rutherfoord, whose oil works are part of the Taubman's permanent collection, says keeping an open mind to sharing gallery space with Mr. Cline isn't easy:  "My mind has been violently jammed open." 

This scenerio takes me back to when I was a GA at UC/DAAP, fighting for the acceptance of my thesis, Contemporary Kentucky Folk Art.  As someone in the Masters of Arts program at this widely respected program, my passion for any kind of folk art was NOT accepted as a valid area of research and thesis material.  In this instance, the "powers that be" had to be pursuaded that folk art is indeed ART, by not only my definition but by many highly respected art historians currently working at major art institutions.  (My thesis was finally accepted after two quarters of revising my proposal...they couldn't deflate my passion and finally agreed to the research!)

In this case, it's an interesting dilemma as to who determines what is "acceptable / marketable" ART that will drive patrons to the institution.  It appears that in Roanoke at least, it's the surrounding community that drives the definition!