“Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in a Changing South”

CRITIC’S PICK: This collection of 500 southern artifacts — pottery, chairs, textiles, tools, crafts, baskets, musical instruments, quilts, and the forging work of blacksmiths — is set to finish its long run at the end of March. Videos show the processes of creating folk art and are complemented by touchable examples of various pieces, and listening rooms enable visitors to hear storytelling and music. Artists include the Meaders and Hewell family pottery makers, chair-maker Walter Shelnut, Cherokee basket-maker Lucille Lossiah, the Reeves family of basket makers, story quilter Harriet Powers, and blacksmith Philip Simmons. “The changing role of folk arts, once central to the lives of ordinary southerners, offers fresh insights into the region’s social history,” says Curator John Burrison — Kevin C. Madigan