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Florida artists draw on traditional, community-based designs to create
objects valued for both their usefulness and beauty. The settings in which
they work range from rural hamlets to urban neighborhoods. There are boat
builders in the coastal towns of the Florida panhandle, African American
basket makers of the forested region around Tallahassee, cast net makers
in the old Minorcan settlement in St. Augustine, diving helmet and musical
instrument makers in the Greek sponging community of Tarpon Springs, equipment
artisans for the ranching industry near Lake Okeechobee, frog hunters
and Seminole clothing artists of the Everglades, Cuban and Haitian drum
makers and religious specialists in Miami, and lobster trap makers and
festival artists of the Florida Keys.
 Traditional
artists typically devote years to learning their art forms. They acquire
skills from members of their families, through working as apprentices
with master artists, or by observing local practices and experimenting
on their own. Some are very conservative, in that they construct objects
that closely resemble traditional models. Others make objects that, though
based on a tradition, reflect substantial innovation. All create objects
that a community recognizes as its own.
 This
exhibition reveals something of the cultural diversity of Florida: the
variety of ways in which people have used objects to adapt to distinct
natural environments and to create meaningful ways of life. It also highlights
the individual achievements of some of the state’s finest traditional
artists. Though much of our material culture is now mass-produced, handmade
objects retain a significant place in our lives. Through such objects
we can encounter dimensions of human creativity and expression that often
remain submerged in a society dominated by large institutions and mass
markets. These objects are part of more intimate worlds and point toward
alternative realms of cultural knowledge and practice.
www.historical-museum.org
Historical Museum of Southern Florida
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