Meet the Contemporary Women Artists Reimagining Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Traditions

Katie White

A couple appears making love on an appliquéd patchwork quilt that takes up half a painting’s surface. At the center of the quilt is a tulip, a symbol of faith rebirth that’s popular in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. Towards the bottom of the panel, one figure’s bare back appears, emblazoned with winged tattoos. Two hands grasp the shoulders, and a bare leg wraps around its waist. On the wall behind the headboard hang two framed folk art pieces—a geometric sampler and a pastoral scene.

This Anne Buckwalter painting, titled Angels (2026), exemplifies the artist’s characteristic juxtaposition of contemporary sexuality and regional folk art traditions. Now based in Maine, Buckwalter was raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her family’s Swiss German roots go back to the late 1700s or 1800s. “In my work, the blending of these Pennsylvania Dutch aesthetics with elements of sexuality and kink and queerness feels very personal to me,” the artist said during a recent conversation. “I think about the home as a psychological space, a place where these very intimate dramas can play out and also where contradictory elements can live together in harmony.”

The term “Pennsylvania Dutch” alone can breed a sense of confusion, conjuring visions of Mennonites, the Amish, and rural life, austerity, and mythology at once.“There’s a lot of muddied knowledge about this particular regional culture,” acknowledged Buckwalter.

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