Design & Document:
The Folly Cove Designers
November 26, 2024-January 3, 2025
Opening reception on Thursday, December 5 from 6-8 PM

BFA Visual & Critical Studies presents the exhibition Design & Document: The Folly Cove Designers, on view Tuesday, November 26, through Friday, January 3, 2025. A fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Heather Atwood will be available.

Between 1938 and 1969, a group of friends and neighbors, under the direction of renowned children’s book illustrator Virginia Lee Burton, created designs and linoleum block prints inspired by the flora, fauna, seascape, and vibrant immigrant community of Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

This body of work, almost all handprinted on textiles, reveals the idealism of the American dream without any cynicism—a capsule of our culture that may be viewed as nostalgic but more importantly, as a group effort that reveals the beauty and possibilities of collaboration. Today, the work of the Folly Cove Designers can be seen as an example of American Regionalism at its finest and a testament that some of the most enduring artworks can be born of hard work and humble origins. The exhibition—appropriately hanging in the gallery run by BFA Visual & Critical Studies—is as much about teaching, mastering concepts and respecting techniques, as it is about the work displayed.

Curated by industrial designer Lucia Steele and faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts).

Image credit: Eino Natti, Gloucester, 1961, ink on fabric, Steele Family Collection

The Flatiron Project Space, created and founded by BFA Visual & Critical Studies, is located on the ground floor of 133 West 21 Street. The gallery invites VCS students and guest curators, along with other departments at SVA, to realize curatorial projects that highlight our rapidly expanding visual culture. Shows are held monthly and include video, performance, painting and sculptural projects.

The gallery is open Monday through Sunday, 9 AM to 6 PM. It is fully accessible by wheelchair.