Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning (GMALL) welcomes Jamie Franklin, curator at the Bennington Museum, to talk about the convergence of folk and modern art. This presentation, originally created in conjunction with the 2014 Bennington Museum exhibition Alice Neel/Erastus Salisbury Field: Painting the People (named one of the nine most memorable exhibitions in North America by Karen Wilkin of the Wall Street Journal), looks at the intersection of folk art and modernism, primarily in America, during the early to mid-twentieth century. As early as the 1910s, objects such as hooked rugs, weathervanes, decoys, and portraits by itinerant artists began to be appreciated by progressive artists, dealers, collectors, and curators for their aesthetic value, as opposed to their purely historic interest. By the late 1930s “folk art” came to be seen as an integral aspect of modern art, shown alongside the likes of Picasso and Klee at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This illustrated presentation will explore this evolution and its continuing impact on artists and the art world in the 21st century. This talk will be available as an in-person event as well as an online presentation via Zoom. Registration is $18 per person and pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, please call our office at 802-867-0111 or visit greenmtnacademy.org.