"Washington State potter-professor Richard Fairbanks and his wife, painter Dixie Parker-Fairbanks, embarked on a sabbatical research trip to Eastern Europe in 1986. What the couple experienced in the Balkans was beyond their greatest expectations. Making forays into remote mountain villages and exploring the great cities in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, the Fairbanks's found the folk art and artists they searched for.". "However, what they did not anticipate was the political repression and the poverty they confronted every day. Their journey became a struggle for their basic survival which is recorded in their personal journals. Nonetheless, the Fairbanks gathered a huge archival photographic record of the last villages where people continue to create and live with breathtaking ornamentation in their everyday lives - in architecture, household items, clothing, and rituals.". "Silent Sunflowers is a opportunity to look beyond the current ethnic struggles in Yugoslavia, to glimpse some of the treasures which enrich an important part of Europe. We hope there can be perhaps greater understanding of this area by seeing the arts and crafts of its people and that an effort will continue to be made to protect, preserve, and enjoy the cultures where many Americans find their roots."--BOOK JACKET.