The Hurn Museum is a museum on

Monterey Square Monterey Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the southernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on Bull Street and Wayne Street, and was laid out in 1847. It is south of Madison Square, wes ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, United States, devoted to American

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

, as well as the work of international

self-taught art Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

ists. The museum is named after the late Deborah Hurn, a local champion of folk art in Savannah. The museum was opened in November 2004 by the Sottile family. The museum was viewed as controversial because it rejected the

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

definition of folk art in favour of

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

. "Fine art separated the decorative arts years ago. We have to do the same with folk art" said co-founder Michael Sottile.

References

External links

www.hurnmuseum.org
Official web site Museums in Savannah, Georgia Folk art museums and galleries in Georgia (U.S. state) Monterey Square (Savannah) buildings Savannah Historic District {{GeorgiaUS-museum-stub