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Julia S. Ardery
1415 Alameda Drive
Austin, Texas 78704
512.428.9067,
jardery@austin.rr.com
Julia S. Ardery runs the Human Flower Project, an international newsgroup, blog, and photo album devoted to flower culture. She is the author of The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art and the editor of Welcome the Traveler Home: Jim Garland’s Story of the Kentucky Mountains. She has also written numerous articles for publications including the Austin American-Statesman, Texas Monthly, the Texas Observer, Appalachian Heritage, and American Craft. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology and an M.A. in English and has extensive experience in various aspects of print and electronic journalism.
Presentations
Why We Fell in Love with Folk Art
How did the whittled dolls of mountaineers and the doodlings of prisoners
come to sell for tens of thousands of dollars at Sotheby’s Auction House in
New York? Julie Ardery explains how the creations of unschooled artists
became wildly popular in the 1970s and '80s. Ardery shows an array of
marvelous images to track the history of folk art’s appeal. She describes
how the Civil Rights movement, a boom in the larger art market, the nation’s
Bicentennial, and disillusionment with the New York art scene rendered folk
art more visible, significant, and tantalizing.
White Roses for the Bride, Red Begonias for the Dictator
From the huge mum corsages of Texas high school homecomings to the begonia
displays honoring North Korea's president Kim Jong Il, nearly every season
of human culture is marked with flowers. Julie Ardery shows how people across
the world express their identities through floral customs of giving,
growing, and wearing. This beautifully illustrated presentation describes
sacred and secular traditions from many countries, including Old World customs
like the "Easter nests" of Dewitt County, Texas, and newer practices
like the victory wreath of orchids at the Indianapolis 500. Audiences are
especially encouraged to remember and discuss their own floral customs, too.