ix, 100 p. : ill. (some col.) / In 1972 ceramist Ken Price (b. 1935) embarked on Happy's Curios , a six-year long project that he described as an homage to Mexican folk pottery. It ended with a 1978 exhibition of the same name held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The project and the related exhibition integrated and critically investigated three common classifications of cultural objects: fine art, folk art, and craft. This thesis argues that the Happy's Curios project deploys these categories in a manner that challenges and deconstructs how they are used. The thesis offers a critical history of the Happy's Curios project and its reception in order to interrogate how the project engages the taxonomy of fine art, folk art, and craft, as well as its relevance to a broader art historical context. / Committee in charge: Kate Mondloch, Chair; Sherwin Simmons, Member; Brian Gillis, Member