NYFS Gallery of New York Traditions

Folk Arts - New York Traditions, a consignment folk art gallery

The Gallery, featured in The Crafts Report, represents over sixty individuals currently living and working in New York State, including several Amish makers of furniture and rugs, toy makers, weavers, basket makers, and wood carvers and wood turners.

SHOP ONLINE AT NEW YORK TRADITIONS
for folk art, books, music, and handmade gifts

Now featuring

New York Folklore Society member, Lucine Kasbarian, is an author and syndicated journalist who writes first-hand about Armenian culture and history. The Greedy Sparrow is an Armenian folktale that has been handed down orally in the author’s family for many generations.

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FOLK ART DEMONSTRATIONS

NYFS Notecards now available! Support NYFS and the folk arts with your purchase.

For your convenience, we accept Mastercard and Visa. To order, call our office at 518/346-7008.

The New York Folklore Society’s programs are made possible in part with public funds from the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

*Sunday Hours coordinate with the Schenectady County Greenmarket outside City Hall

Stories for the Season with Joe (Alden) Doolittle

December 3, 2011 is Schenectady’s Holiday Magic Celebration

Downtown Schenectady will be full of activity with carolers, crafts demonstrations, children’s activities, food, and horse-drawn carriage rides. As a special event for the New York Folklore Society, storyteller Joe (Alden) Doolittle will be in the Gallery, regaling you with tales for the Holiday Season.

New York Folklore Society Gallery
At 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.
129 Jay Street
Schenectady, New York
Call (518) 346-7008

The Gates Are Open, 1997, Bob Graham
“Three Generations on the Erie Barge Canal”
Subtitled “Photographs from the Graham Family Collection”
Opening on Downtown Schenectady’s Summer Night
July 15 through September 9, 2011
At the Gallery of New York Traditions.
Dad Radios the Lock Near the End of the Day

New York Folklore Society Gallery Features the Work of
Bernard Domingo

To recognize the month-long run of The Lion King at Proctors Theatre in downtown Schenectady, The New York Folklore Society featured the bead and wire animals of Bernard Domingo. Originally from Zimbabwe but now living in New York State, Bernard uses wire and glass beads to create whimsical animals as well as other items such as motorcycles and flowers. Bernard has specifically crafted a large lion and a water buffalo to tie in to the performance of the musical. These, and many more animals were on display through February and March 2011.

The New York Folklore Society operates its Gallery of New York Folk Arts — New York Traditions — a consignment folk art gallery that provides a sales outlet for folk arts from New York State. Over 65 folk and traditional artists are represented in the gallery. This includes Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) beadworkers and basketmakers, wood carvers, quilters and other fiber artists, stone carvers, and furniture makers.

We also carry hard-to-find books of regional interest and audio recordings of folk and traditional music.

Stone and Copper Artist, Mark Swanberry, featured in the Gallery of New York Folk Art

The New York Folklore Society is featuring stone and copper artist, Mark Swanberry. Mark Swanberry is a stone mason and stone carver from West Fulton, Schoharie County who has most recently begun to incorporate copper into his work. Mark has been carving bluestone for at least twenty years and his work is known throughout the Mohawk Valley. He has taught stone carving for the Lake Placid Center for the Arts and has conducted workshops for both children and adults throughout the region. In 2010, he presented his work at the Albany Institute for History and Art as part of a collaborative folk arts program with the New York Folklore Society and the Albany Institute for History and Art. His work, including bird baths, carved bas relief, stone lanterns, and other small pieces, will be featured in the New York Folklore Society Gallery through 2010.

Along with selling affordable traditional art, the gallery also provides educational material about the artists and their artistic traditions, which serve to enlighten the public about various cultural communities around New York State.

Demonstrations are made possible with a grant from the Schenectady County Initiative Program of the Schenectady County Planning Department.

KIDS’ ART FEST
Jay Street, Schenectady, NY
June 5, 2010, Noon – 4 p.m.

The Kids’ Arts Fest occurs each year on the first Saturday of June. The focus is on participation by Schenectady’s youngest residents and all events are free. Held on Jay Street, in the block that runs from State to Franklin, there are stages for performances on either end, with artist’s booths lining the Jay Street pedestrian walkway.
Kid's Art Fest in Schenectady in 2009 -2

Kid's Art Fest in Schenectady in 2009 -2

Bernard Domingo demonstrates his bead and wire sculpture art at the Kids Arts Fest in Schenetady

The Folklore Society has been participating since 2001, with hands-on folk arts activities which feature an artist. This year, Bernard Domingo of Yonkers worked with young people to show them his unique bead and wire scuptures, an art learned as a young person in Zimbabwe. Originally from Zimbabwe and now living in the Hudson Valley, Bernard Domingo makes wire and bead “critters” which showcase African animals. He also crafts detailed motorcycles and other small wire pieces.

The festival is sponsored by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District and organized with the help of a loyal group of volunteers.

North by Northeast: Baskets and Beadwork from the Akwesasne Mohawk and Tuscarora. Exhibition: Sept. 25-Oct. 24, 2009, First Floor: Nott Memorial, Union College, 807 Union Street, Schenectady, NY 12308

As a part of the Hudson Valley’s Quadricentennial celebrations, the New York Folklore Society commemorated the vibrant cultural traditions of New York’s Haudenosaunee tribes with “North by Northeast: Baskets and Beadwork from the Akwesasne Mohawk and Tuscarora.” Read about this exhibition and see photos and video.

This photograph by Harry Wirtz.

Located in an airy and light-filled storefront on historic Jay Street in Schenectady, we offer a wide variety of woodcarving, quilts, decoys, Iroquois handicrafts, handwoven baskets, historic tinware, Amish furniture and quilted wallhangings, and books and CD’s of regional significance among many other items related to New York State.

Please take the time to come visit with us and peruse journals of New York Folklore dating back to its inception in 1945, and our many other publications.

For a closer look at some of the unique handmade items for sale in the Gallery and information about the artists who created them, click on any of the photos below. If you are interested in purchasing any of these type of items, or even if you are looking for something else that you don’t see here, we invite you to call our office at 518/346-7008 for information about availability and pricing.

The New York Folklore Society has hosted a series of folk art demonstrations at the gallery at 129 Jay Street for the last several years, with support from the Schenectady County Initiative Program of the Schenectady County Planning Department. On November 26, 2005, Walt Fleming demonstrated traditional and historic tin smithing. In December 2005, we hosted more demonstrations: Hooked rugs with Diane Burk, wood carving with Carol Borst, and songs of the season with Stanley Ransom.

Previously, we have hosted Xrystya Szyika demonstrating pysanky, a Ukranian and Polish Easter tradition involving the elaborate dyeing of eggs; Rita Chrisjohn-Benson demonstrating Iroquois crafts: Beverley Carhart presenting her elaborate woodworking skills; Barry Irving showing his West African drum making techniques; Everett Hartman demonstrating his fine skills at Marquetry (a wood inlaying process); Nefisa Khanshab demonstrating the art of mehendi; and stonecarver Mark Swanberry showing his innovative skills with native Catskill bluestone.

The Gallery of New York Folk Art presented
TEXTURED STORIES: An Exhibition featuring the work of Denise Allen, folk artist and master craftswoman from Palatine Bridge, NY
Opening wine-and-cheese reception with the artist: Thursday, March 4, 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
Gallery Hours: 10 a.m - 4 p.m.
Gallery of New York Folk Art, 129 Jay St., Schenectady, NY
Contact: 518.346.7008, email: lisa@nyfolklore.org
Cost: Free and open to the public; light refreshments served
As a folk artist who predominately focuses on themes of African American colonial life and country living, Allen creates one-of-a-kind textured artwork employing various techniques, prints, dolls, and story cloths. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally, and in February 2010, she unveiled her latest piece, a 9-11 story cloth that will be housed at the forthcoming 9-11 memorial in New York City.

February 25, 2010 - March 26, 2010

The gallery is made possible with the generous support of the
William Gundry Broughton Charitable Foundation