Folly Cove Designers Catalog (Fifth Edition)

Published by the Cape Ann Museum, foreword by Martha Oaks, catalog essay by Sharon Worley

Softcover, 78 pages, includes color and black & white historical photos and an index of 328 original Folly Cove designs

Discover the legacy of the Folly Cove Designers in this beautifully redesigned edition of The Folly Cove Designers 1941-1969, in conjunction with the Cape Ann Museum’s new exhibit, Designed & Hand-Blocked by the Folly Cove Designers on display until March 19, 2023. This fifth edition of the Folly Cove Designers Catalog includes updated information and images as well as new collection acquisitions from the past decade. The catalog outlines the history and artistic practices of the group and contextualizes the Designers’ relationship to the Museum.

The Folly Cove Designers, a group of designer-craftsmen who worked together from 1938 to 1969, produced carefully wrought designs cut into linoleum blocks and printed (primarily) on fabric. Their common interest was in producing solid designs and in good craftsmanship. The group was composed almost entirely of women, most being residents of Cape Ann and a majority having no artistic training prior to becoming involved in the group. They worked under the leadership of Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, who devised a design course which she offered to her friends and neighbors in the Folly Cove neighborhood. Participants were urged by Demetrios to look to their surroundings for inspiration, to draw "what they knew" and to sketch their subjects over and over again until they made them their own.

Copyright 1996 Cape Ann Museum, reprinted in 2022