HOW TO MAKE 19 KINDS OF AMERICAN FOLK ART FROM MASKS TO TV COMMERCIALS

by Jean & Cle Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 1974

Anyone seriously interested in reproducing Eskimo masks, colonial candles or carved wooden ""dancing"" toys will find incomparably more precise, extensive, authentic and impressive instructions in Pettit's How to Make Whirligigs and Whimmy Diddles (KR 1971). The Kinneys here ""cover"" all three crafts but instead of bothering to select and arrange their photos for optional effect, to shape and edit the background notes, or to elaborate on the few casual directions, they prefer a grab bag ""folk art's greatest hits"" approach in which everything from Indian petroglyphs, sand paintings, carved pipes and beadwork to gingerbread puppets, work songs, and square dancing are mentioned in passing. There is a section on voodoo (what you ""make"" here is a Halloween party and a palm reading act!), one on sailors' ropework (with directions for a square knot macrame belt) and another on Tiffany glass (which you can emulate by copying the authors' banal ""knight's head"" with black tape and paint). As for TV commercials, even readers who accept the contention that their creators are folk artists because ""(1) their names are not known to those who see their work; (2) they have a reason (to sell a product) other than art for doing what they do"" -- can do better with an introduction to filmmaking than with the Kinneys' instructions for making a story board for a slide show ""using 7, 12, 20 or more pictures that add up to a sales pitch.

Pub Date: April 17, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION