folk art

American  

noun

1. artistic works, as paintings, sculpture, basketry, and utensils, produced typically in cultural isolation by untrained often anonymous artists or by artisans of varying degrees of skill and marked by such attributes as highly decorative design, bright bold colors, flattened perspective, strong forms in simple arrangements, and immediacy of meaning.

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folk art British  

noun

1. the visual arts, music, drama, dance, or literature originating from, or traditional to, the common people of a country

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Other Word Forms

• folkartist
  noun
• folk-art
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of folk art

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

folk art

One of them, 13-year-old David Vasquez Garcia, says in the book that his Mexican folk art creation was one part bull, one part cucaracha, and one part imagination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2026

One of the highlights are the lots containing the Northumberland folk art creations from the Branxton Cement Menagerie.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

The back of the distillery unofficially doubles as one of the city’s great galleries, displaying the owners’ expansive folk art collection from floor to ceiling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

Minhwa is a style of Korean folk art popular during the Chosun era, with the Hojak-do genre specializing in images of tigers, magpies and pine trees.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2025

Ultimately, it led to the establishment of ethnic studies departments where courses were offered in such fields as nineteenth-century black history and Hispanic-American folk art.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez