Since 2000, this 400-year-old Guatemalan tradition has also been practiced in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., by the Guatemalan communities here.

It starts with psychedelic patchwork of yellows and pinks. From there, broad strokes with a wadded paper towel form abstract shapes of white and black. Suddenly, a clown has emerged.

See an interactive display of photographs from early years of the Folklife Festival and our 50th anniversary.

Jesus Mari Lazkano is a professor at the University of the Basque Country and outdoor enthusiast known for his fantastic surrealist landscape paintings inspired by the Basque landscapes he encounters on a daily basis.

The shapes and colors of Jesus Maria Lazkano’s landscape paintings are familiar, but his mountains float, his water falls in squares, and his icebergs hang in mid-air.

We recently heard from Sean Harris, one of the animators in the 2009 Wales Smithsonian Cymru program.

The Perú: Pachamama program featured several chicha street artists, including Elliot Tupac, a Peruvian muralist and designer who hails from Lima.

In talking with folk artist Angel L. Callañaupa Alvares, this video gives insight about the expansive significance of Pachamama. His deep appreciation for Pachamama is ever present in his work

Artist Aymar Ccopacatty knits, weaves, braids, and collages with recycled plastic bags that he collects mostly from his homeland of Peru.

Amazonian painter Brus Rubio creates abstract scenes of Huitoto-Bora myths, local stories, and songs in addition to singing and playing the manguaré, a pair of drums made from tree trunks.