Folk Art and Aging

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Folk Art and Aging merits a wider audience beyond the field of folklore; it belongs in the libraries of all those who work with the aging population and are interested in the aging process, including gerontologists, narrative gerontologists, creative aging specialists, artists, caretakers, and health care practitioners.

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~Journal of American Folklore

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Kay offers a valuable contribution to folk art studies with the nicely composed profiles of four men and one woman who took up folk arts intensively later in life.

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~Journal of Folklore Research

"All too often, aging is regarded merely as an end-of-life period, and therefore those within that age-defined category are often treated in a somewhat condescending manner, as if lumped into one clinical entity, with similar needs and aspirations. Kay presents case studies which clearly stand as counter to such narrow thinking and generalizations regarding seniors and their abilities to interact in, and contribute to, their communities and society."

"Drawing on case studies of five well-chosen Indiana artisans—wood sculptor, rag-rug weaver, musical instrument maker, painter, and maker of wood canes—Kay offers a thoughtful, revealing meditation on the relationship between aging and art making. . . . Highly recommended."

~Choice Reviews

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Folk Art and Aging is a highly approachable book suitable for a broad audience. With its colored photographs, narrative writing style, and focus on research participants, the book is an ideal text for university courses in ethnography, material culture, folklore across the lifespan, and gerontology. Beyond the academic sphere, the book would be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of gerontologists, folklorists, and those who provide care for an elderly family member or client.

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~Western Folklore

"Highly recommended."

~Journal of the Royal Anthropology Institute

"An approachable and valuable book . . . a masterful assessment of the relationship between folk art and the construction of personal narratives, in this case among a selection of elderly individuals from Indiana."

~Daniel C. Swan, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma and Curator of Ethnology at the Sam Noble Mu

"A very important contribution to scholarship in folklife, material culture studies, and gerontology studies. . . . an imminently readable book. . . . This is the first book I know of that so carefully first renders specific portraits of older artists, then sensitively and acutely analyzes how the construction and sharing of their work realizes this meaning making."

~Marsha MacDowell, Professor of Art History at Michigan State University and Curator of Folk Art at Michigan State Univ