Thomas Queen, Curator
Much of America’s music has flowered from Appalachian roots. The centuries-old musical traditions of immigrant settlers and African slaves were essential to the development of bluegrass, country, gospel, early jazz and rock and roll.
Appalachian Strings will present an extensive collection of hand-made dulcimers, banjos, fiddles, guitars and mandolins gathered from private and public collections across the United States. A distinct and fascinating category of the exhibition features “make-do” instruments fabricated from cigar boxes, oil cans, fruitcake tins. Whether the result of economic necessity or the desire to make a highly personal artistic statement, these instruments represent the intense need of the human spirit to make music.
Appalachian Strings
The Instruments, Their Makers, The Music
June 23 – September 9, 2012
Accompanying exhibition book designed by Juli Barker
SUPPLEMENTAL EXHIBITION CONTENT
