Tramp art exhibition explores folk art style

The Peebles Gallery of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum will open the Tramp Art exhibit Saturday, Sept. 29.

The exhibit will feature pieces made by or credited to "tramps," the vagrants and wanderers now perhaps known best through the Charlie Chaplin caricature. Tara Chicirda, Colonial Williamsburg's curator of furniture, admits that while many pieces were not made by tramps, the style itself is worth exploration.

"Whether made by a tramp or a man with leisure time, these objects continue to hold appeal for many people," Chicirda said in a press release. "The character of each piece reflects the maker, often unidentified, who is remembered and admired through the items he created."

Exhibition pieces range from simple chip carved cigar boxes made from penknives to complex, layered pieces in the style of 19th-century Victorian decor. The Folk Art Museum offers a selection of more than 5,000 folk art objects made in the past three centuries.

Tramp Art will open Saturday, Sept. 29 in the Peebles Gallery of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and remain on display through Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. The Folk Art Museum is part of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg that also includes the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. They are located at the intersection of Francis and South Henry streets in Williamsburg.

The exhibit can be viewed with a Colonial Williamsburg Revolutionary City admission ticket, a museum ticket or a Good Neighbor Card.

For more information about the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, visit history.org/history/museums/multimedia.cfm or call 757-220-7724.

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