Meaning & use
folk art
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Meanings
noununcountable
art made by ordinary people in a traditional community, often by hand and without formal training.
Grammar: Used as a mass noun: Folk art is shown in this museum. Do not say 'a folk art' when you mean the tradition.
Patterns
- folk art of a place
- traditional folk art
- a piece of folk art
The museum has a large collection of folk art from the region.
She studies folk art and the stories that go with it.
Folk art often uses materials that people find around them, such as wood, clay, or cloth.
nouncountable or uncountable
objects made in this traditional way, especially when considered as a group or a style.
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to particular types or items: a folk art, the folk arts of Asia.
Patterns
- the folk arts of a country
- a folk art tradition
- collect folk art
The festival celebrates the folk arts of the island.
He collects folk art from small villages.
Painting on wooden boxes is a folk art that has survived for centuries.
Common combinations
- folk art museum
- We spent the afternoon at the folk art museum.
- traditional folk art
- Traditional folk art is passed down from parents to children.
- folk art tradition
- Quilting is part of the folk art tradition in many communities.
- a piece of folk art
- This carved horse is a beautiful piece of folk art.
- folk art festival
- The folk art festival attracts visitors from all over the world.
Synonyms and how they differ
- craft
- Craft usually stresses the skill and the making of useful or decorative objects, while folk art stresses the traditional community and cultural meaning.
- naive art
- Naive art is made by someone without formal training, but it does not have to come from a traditional community, so it is narrower in a different way.
Opposites
Word family
- folk artist noun
- a person who makes folk art
- folk adjective
- traditional and belonging to ordinary people, as in folk music or folk tales
Commonly confused: folk art or fine art?
folk art vs fine art
Fine art is made by trained artists and is often shown in galleries; folk art is made by ordinary people in a traditional community.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'folk art' correctly?
Choose one answer.
When you mean the tradition as a whole, 'folk art' is uncountable, so 'a collection of folk art' is correct. Option 0 uses 'a folk art' for a single item, but the usual phrase is 'a piece of folk art'. Option 2 uses 'folk art' for a person, which is wrong; the person is a 'folk artist'. Option 3 uses a plural verb with an uncountable noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “folk art”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.