Life's art through the ages.

• Position: Americas !Ojo!

A major traveling exhibition, which opened in September at New York's Museum of American Fold Art, vividly demonstrates that folk art is today, and always has been, an integral part of Latin American life. "Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America," chronicles this heritage with over 250 works from seventeen counties in Latin America and the southwestern United States. The objects displayed include ceremonial, utilitarian, recreational and decorative pieces which illustrate the European, African, Asian and indigenous roots of folk art traditions from the sixteenth century to the present.

The exhibition was organized by guest curator Dr. Marion Oettinger, Jr., a cultural anthropologist and curator of folk art and Latin American art at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Over a three year period, Dr. Oettinger traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, uncovering objects from the places where they were made and used. "Since pre-Columbian times, folk art in Latin America has been the primary vehicle through which people have expressed their dreams and fears, courted their lovers, amused their children, worshiped their gods, and honored their ancestors," reflects Dr. Oettinger. "In modern times, it continues to be an important device for coping with the physical, social and...