One thing that I love about art in general, is that there are so many different styles and so many different items that can be included.  One style that I really like is the “folk art” style.  One of my favorite artist in this style, is from the neighborhood where my grandparents lived.  This area is known as Strawberry Hill in Kansas City Kansas. And Strawberry Hill is one of the city’s best-known ethnic communities.  A little history about the Hill is that most of its Slavic population arrived around the turn of the 20th century.  They were attracted to the United States by economic opportunities. The new immigrants first settled in the Kansas River bottoms, where they found work in packing houses, stockyards, and railroads. They soon built a church for Croatian immigrants on the mound, named by tradition “Strawberry Hill” for the wild berries that once grew there. As arrivals became more established and prosperous, they began to move up from the bottoms onto the Hill. It became an ethnic enclave, a traditional village within a modern city, filled with Croatian businesses patronized by Croatian workers. Residents spoke the same language, sang the same songs, attended each other’s weddings and funerals.  Quite a community!

My favorite artist from the “Hill” is Marijana Grisnik.  She was born, lived and painted the area in a wonderful “Folk Art” style.  I have posted some of her paintings.  I hope you enjoy!

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