The following is an interview with UK fabric artist, Anthony Stevens. See previous blog for more images of his work.

Q:           Tell me about yourself.

A:            I’m a 35 year old U.K resident who lives and works in beautiful, bohemian, Brighton, with my partner and two cats. I enjoy creating art, good food and chanting NAM MYOHO RENGE KYO (I always chant about my work and most of my ideas come this way). I also like to read and write short stories and poetry. I originally hail from Birmingham, a large industrial city in the middle of the UK.  I had some very tough and traumatizing experiences growing up there; however,  I have still led a varied and full life, but one that has for the majority been accompanied by periods of mental distress of varying degrees and intensities.  I’m a firm believer in turning shit into compost and growing a garden. I guess that it is this philosophy that has best informed my work, both in art and my work as a ‘Peer Support Specialist’. (I work part-time for an organization that is entirely staffed by people with lived experience of mental distress and recovery.)  I believe that the individual when given the time, space and appropriate support will always know what is the best way forward for them and make their life grow into something personally meaningful and beautiful to them.

Q:           When and why did you start to create art. Did you start with fabric, or some other medium?

A:            I have always been creative in some way since early childhood, whether that was making little cloth bags, writing stories with illustrations or making sculptures from my sister’s dolls. I have also used art in my other work, which has mainly been in the realm of working with adult mental health and learning disabilities. However, my creativity really started to blossom in 2007, when I started practising Buddhism. I was living at a magnificent place just outside of Edinburgh, called Newbattle Abbey (a high support college for adults returning to education).  I think this was the first time in my life I had ever given myself the opportunity to have some time for myself and really see what makes me tick. The combination of environment, time out and support really got my inner cogs turning again. Ironically, the course I did had nothing to do with art and was more geared towards social sciences and literature. However, I spent a lot of time creating an art installation for our end-of-year celebration, using old cardboard boxes, paint and photocopied pictures of all us students.

As for working with fabrics, this came about in 2010. I originally wanted to create my own t-shirt designs as I found so many of the clothes I saw boring. I ended up buying a huge sack of cloth scraps from a dress shop in Brighton and got to work. However, I started to see a synergy with the process I was using, my life, and the way I perceive life to work. I would chant, stir up my life force.  Life force is naturally creative and will work with whatever is there. I would search and sift and find what was useful and beautiful and discard anything else for another time and piece. I would then begin a process of layering, stitching and sticking to create extremely strong and durable fabric collage pieces. I felt that there was a direct connection between my inner process of creation and healing and what I was doing on an outer level. Since that time I have worked a lot in marker pen and card as well as creating 3D pieces. It was only this year that someone suggested that I incorporate the immediacy of drawing with my fabric work, so now, I draw straight onto the fabric and stitch in the design.

Q:           Where do you work? In a studio, in your home? 

A:            I work from home. I’m fortunate enough to have a designated room in which I can work. I’m extremely messy and chaotic when working , and somehow it doesn’t feel fair to inflict this personal freedom on other people. I can also find the process of working quite painful at times and appreciate the safety of being at home where I can take care of myself.

Q:           How much time do you spend on your artwork? 

A:            I work every day on something. I think it was Beethoven, who said “A line every day”. Some days it’s all day and others just 30 minutes. It depends very much on the urgency of a piece and what other commitments I have at any particular time. I do love the freedom of having a large block of time with which to create though. I can stay up all night, drink tea, listen to music, chant and deal with anything that comes up…I love it!

Q:           Why is creating art meaningful to you?  Have you changed since you     started creating artwork?

A:            I guess it’s the process, for me. It really is like life. I get an idea, I start working on it, I encounter problems and snags, I lose patience, I get frustrated and want to throw it away and give up, and then comes the magic of remembering that there are no mistakes or problems that can’t be incorporated and used creatively. I also find that I have greater understanding of myself and my experiences from expressing them through art. By putting them out there in the world and being completely honest in my work, things that have worried me or have not made sense, in time become apparent. I find this especially with fabric, you pull a thread here and something moves over there, the snags and creases often make the piece stronger and more themselves…it’s magnificent!!! I often feel great happiness and satisfaction when I look at a completed piece.

I have also found that, I am more aware of how other people and the environment communicate. I feel that a lot of life is hidden in the details and the non verbal.

Q:           Do you exhibit your work?

A:            I am currently exhibiting a piece at a place called Taplow Court. This a Buddhist peace and culture centre and the piece is included in an exhibition that is running alongside a course on finding creative solutions to deal with conflict. I feel really proud that my work, my personal expression of something was chosen, and that it is also contributing to the world in a wider way.  I have exhibited a few times prior to this, mainly on a local level. Brighton, where I live, has an annual open house event where artists team up together and exhibit from each other’s homes. I did this twice and teamed up with a local mental health/arts org and exhibited with them as well as a local boutique.

Q:           How does the public respond to your work? Does it matter to you what they think?

A:            I have found that people have either loved my work or hated it. I found this quite upsetting at first and took it personally. But to be honest, in time, I have  found this to be very useful on a personal level, as it is helping to go towards building a more solid sense of myself, snags, rips and all. My work and I are connected. I won’t compromise with what I do. If it’s on display it’s because I have love for it and I’m happy with the result. It is perfectly imperfect and  will always evolve in some way. I have had problems accepting this about myself and life in general, so I guess other people do too…it’s good to ask ourselves why though?

Q:           Do you consider yourself an artist?

A:            I hadn’t actually given this any thought. However, to be very simple, yes, I think I do. I feel that I express things creatively and in a way that I find aesthetically pleasing, I also work really hard at what I do, so in that sense, yes,  I am an ‘artist’.  But in the sense of creating work for commissions or understanding artistic movements or styles and schools of thought, then no, I’m not. I just know what I like and I feel what has an effect on me, what resonates in my gut and my fibres. I don’t care about brush strokes or technique. Maybe it’s a bit egocentric, but I only create what I want to and in the way I know how. Any other way, there would be no journey for me and ultimately, no joy in doing this.

Q:           How do you define outsider art?

A:            As for ‘outsider’ definitions, well, what first springs to mind for me is who defines this? I know that there is a historical perspective on this, but to be honest, I find it is usually the ‘majority’ who make cultural definitions and box things up, and due to the often very restrictive, yet invisible shackles that society places on us, the ‘True Outsider’ has perhaps taken on a romantic hue, an escapist ideal from our busy world…not to say that it does not exist, because it does.

Personally, I feel that culture and art, like human beings, are to be amorphous and shape shifting to give any real static status to a form. They are just  ideas really and hard to pin down in ‘reality’ (whatever that is).  I would think it is growing  increasingly hard as time goes by to be able to be truly outside…TV and branding are examples that spring to mind. These are the social sedatives/stimulants of our time and very few remain immune from this. I suspect that this was less of the case when the ‘outsider’ term was coined. However, I do speak from a limited knowledge base here, this is just me free styling.

From my perspective, to be outside is to not care about trends or letting who likes my work stop me expressing. It’s about authenticity and expression. I have lived experiences and views on life that I want to share with people because they offer a different, and I believe, positive perspective from the one that prevails. It’s also about challenging the status quo…who decides what art is and who is an artist. Who can succeed and who cannot? Let’s have choice!

Much as I intend to focus my research on Canadian outsider artists, I learn about other interesting artists through my blog. Anthony Stevens, an outsider artist in the UK, contacted me recently and we have exchanged many interesting emails about his beautiful fabric artwork and how he came to be an artist. In Anthony’s own words:

I am a U.K based, self taught Artist. I use my work as a form of therapy and self expression. When not producing art, I also work as a Peer Support Specialist and engage in Buddhist culture and peace activities. Primarily, my work is about expressing and processing trauma and it’s after effects. I guess it’s me dancing with my inner dynamics so that I can find a rhythm that is both constructive and wonderful. My work is heavily influenced by my practise of Nichiren Buddhism and chanting ‘Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo’, especially the concept of ‘Nothing is wasted’. This has become manifest by my choosing to work primarily with scrap fabrics. By choosing to do this, I am forced to look creatively and perceive potential in what may seem to be useless and beyond repair. This is in direct correlation with how I strive to perceive my life and my experiences. As with life, it is sometimes a painstaking and frustrating process, but ultimately I feel joy and satisfaction with the result.

Below are samples of Anthony’s work. You can see more on the UK website called Outside In (which provides a platform for artists who find it difficult to access the art world). The next blog will be an interview with Anthony.

Ever on the look-out for Canadian outsider artists, I continued my search on a recent trip to Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) on the (very) North West coast of British Columbia.

I am the least likely person to have survived as an early pioneer, but I love Haida Gwaii.  I don’t like bugs and dirt, I couldn’t forage for my food, and I am terrified of bears. Really terrified. On this trip, my son kindly bought me a can of bear spray for our forays into the forest. Thankfully, we didn’t run into any bears, which was lucky since I have a broken ankle and couldn’t outrun a squirrel. But I digress.

I love the northern regions of Canada for its complete solitude. Eagles and ravens are as common as sparrows and the silence is broken only by the sound of the surf. The Islanders are off the grid – literally. The Haida are the indigenous people who have lived there for millennia. The more recent residents are there because they want to do things their own way. The northern tip of the island, where we stayed, refused electricity when it was offered. Surely the island had to be swarming with outsider artists?

I asked several residents about artists who might fit my description of “outsiders”. They looked puzzled because, they say, everyone is an artist in Haida Gwaii. In the long days of winter, they all retreat into their homes and create things: music, art, poetry. Strangely, this is the same response I got when I enquired about outsider artists in the northern Canadian province of Yukon.  Maybe my definition of outsiders should include everyone who lives above the 60^th parallel?

Racine:  Birdman (Bronze, 22x11x9 inches)

One of the perks of my life as a blogger is that I hear from readers all over the world. One such reader is a sculptor, Pierre Racine, from Quebec, Canada. While Racine is not an outsider artist, his sculpture has the “feeling” of some outsider work I saw recently. For this reason, I am taking a detour from my usual outsider art discoveries to introduce you to his work.

Racine: Bowing to the Fertility Gods (Bronze, 13x9x4 inches)

Last month I attended a conference at the Prinzhorn Museum in Heidelberg, Germany. I was delighted to see a small part of the permanent collection, like the work by Karl Brendel (1871 – 1925). Brendel’s work began (strangely) when he modeled figures out of chewed bread. He was encouraged to begin wood carving and he left a collection of animal, hermaphrodite, and religious figures, like this one below:

I’m not suggesting that Racine is (or should be) in a psychiatric hospital, but I get the same sense of intrigue when I look at his work. What are these magical creatures and what makes me want to pick them up to examine the details and feel the textures? They are beautiful and strange, and strangely beautiful.

I exchanged a few emails with Racine to learn about his work. He has worked in various mediums, including drawing, painting, installations, clay, stone, paper-pulp, and for the past 20 years, bronze. Racine has a degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University. He has an impressive history of exhibits, both national and international and his work is owned by Canadian and international collectors. Racine has travelled the world, and his interest in Latin and South America has taken him there many times. His love of Pre-Columbian art comes through in his sculpture; I can see that influence in shapes and rich patinas of his sculptures.

Racine says this about his work:

It may be difficult for the observer to grasp the hidden messages in my work as it can be interpreted in many different ways. My main preoccupation with sculpture, however, is mastering the use of techniques, materials, composition and the physical properties of form and line, for the sheer pleasure of creating strong, original, and aesthetically pleasing works of art.

The meaning behind my work can be found in the intrinsic qualities of the objects themselves, as both symbolic and virtual expressions. Using metaphors and symbols allows additional freedom to create unique objects that generate a life and existence of their own within the confines of conceptual and abstract-figurative art. My art is a product of ideas that communicates a strong personal message in unconventional ways.

Racine is not influenced by any particular art movement and remains true to his own vision. That may be one of the reasons I am drawn to his work, as I am with outsider art. It is highly expressive, unique, and makes me want to see more.

You can see more of Pierre Racine’s artwork on his website: http://www.pierreracine.net/

I attended an International conference on outsider art in May. It was held at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where the Prinzhorn collection is housed. The conference was initiated by the Prinzhorn collection and the European Outsider Art Association.

About 75 people attended the conference, most of them from European outsider art organizations like museums, studios and educational institutions. It was an incredible experience to be with a group of people who live and breathe outsider art; for once I didn’t have to explain what outsider art is and why I love it.

Over two days, papers were presented  (and lively discussions followed) on ethical issues around outsider art.  There were two main topics: dealing with outsider artists and the ownership of outsider art. We discussed the artists’ rights to equality; the viewpoints of artists, gallerists, psychiatrists and art promoters; and the ownership of outsider art. I’ll give you more details in upcoming blogs.

The most animated discussion was around ownership of outsider art: who has access to it, what permissions are needed, and so on.  One organization, for example, is working with psychiatric hospitals  in Germany to gain access to and archive their patients’ artwork.  Some hospitals have agreed to join the project, while others have not.

There was some grumbling about institutions that will not release their patients’ artwork (when the patient cannot give his or her own consent). There was a feeling that it is in the “public interest” to document this artwork. While I agree that it would be interesting to see the work, I can understand the institution’s position. Looking at it from a legal perspective (which I can’t help doing), there is no “right of access” to anything in the doctor/patient file, particularly by a group of strangers!  (An exception, of course, would be if there were an investigation into the practices of the institution and a need to access medical files and hospital records.) By denying access, the hospital is protecting their patients’ privacy – and so they should. If you were incapable of making the decision yourself, would you want your private artwork to be exposed to the public? I think not. A great deal of this artwork is produced from a place of trauma, and it is simply not appropriate to wretch that artwork from the hands of the creator and his or her care-giver. Period.

I expressed an unpopular view with respect to deceased artists. Some people were of the view that once an artist has died (and the next-of-kin are not available to consent), the artwork is available for public viewing. In my opinion, and aside from the legal ownership issues (to be discussed in a future blog), the curator must be extremely sensitive in deciding whether to exhibit the artwork. For example, if the artist has portrayed a traumatic event in graphic detail (such as sexual abuse), perhaps it is just “not right” to show that work to the world. Remember again:  the work was created in a private setting, for personal reasons. Would you want the world to know of your personal, private Hell even after you were dead? Probably not.

What is your view?

I’m back on track (sort of) after returning from the conference in Heidelberg  and finishing a course on visual culture.  I have a lot to report.

The International conference was initiated by the Prinzhorn Collection and the European Outsider Art Association to discuss ethical questions around outsider art. It was held at the University of Heidelberg, where the Prinzhorn collection is housed. Since 2001, the collection has been on display in a former oratory of the University of Heidelberg and it has always been my dream to go there.

I don’t know what I expected or hoped to see – maybe a museum the size of a large house. In the photograph above, the museum is in a couple of rooms on the ground floor of the tall building in the foreground.

Sadly, the museum is very small, and only a tiny (very tiny) portion of  the permanent collection is on display at any one time. I saw a cabinet of original wood carvings by former psychiatric patients under the care of Hans Prinzhorn. You would recognize the carvings because they have appeared in almost every outsider art book published (like the one by Karl Brendel to the left). I approached the cabinet with a shock of recognition – the carvings were so familiar to me, but still surprising to see the real thing. They are small – something that is difficult to appreciate when seeing a photograph in a book. They are all about 12 inches (30 cm) tall, but the carvings are detailed and exquisite. I wished that I could hold them. I am always struck by the incredible creativity and imagination in every piece of outsider art that I see, and these were no exception.

The entrance to the museum holds a reception desk, a couple of benches,  a very small collection of books, and a few postcards. The main exhibit room is quite large, with a balcony that wraps around 3 sides of the room.

Currently on exhibit is the work of Ovartaci (1849 – 1985), from Denmark (shown below). The theme of much of his work is transformation; he castrated himself in his transition from male to female. Other life-sized paintings and paper mache figures are fantastical creatures representing various reincarnation cycles of his life – a butterfly, bird, puma, and tiger. His own painted bed is the centre-piece of the exhibit, in a re-creation of his room in the psychiatric hospital.

Around the balcony were a few drawings from the permanent collection, as well as gorgeous photographs by Ono Ludwig, also on the theme of gender roles.

The most peculiar thing (to me) was the curator’s decision to refer to Ovartaci as “he” when Ovartaci clearly identified as female. I asked why that decision had been made and was told that the original biographical/archival material referred to Ovartaci as a male, and they decided to follow that decision. I doubt that the same decision would be made in North America…

On Thursday, May 9^th, Gallery Gachet in Vancouver hosted a special evening around the current exhibit INTUIT: ART OF THE INTUITIVE.  In an effort to shine light on intuitive art practices, a roundtable discussion examined the boundaries between outsider/visionary art and what is accepted as mainstream art.

The four exhibiting artists spoke about their work:  Laurie Marshall, Hugh Lunn, Helen Keyes,  and Kate Paulsen.

My apologies for the tiny photos at the top of this blog (I forgot to take my camera to the exhibit). The first two photos are of Laurie Marshall’s paintings. (See earlier blogs.) Laurie is one of my favourite outsider artists – his work is whimsical and creative. By the time I arrived, most of his paintings were sold, an outstanding accomplishment for any artist. Laurie took it all in stride.

I learned about Hugh Lunn (see large photograph at top), an artist who lives in Smith Falls, Ontario. (A friend and correspondent, Pierre Leichner, was there to present Lunn’s work.) Lunn learned drafting skills while studying engineering at Queens University (Canada). He worked in the Canadian Airforce until his mental health issues necessitated him leaving his employment. For the past 15 years, Lunn has been designing an aerospace craft that could break the light barrier and carry passengers on short range flights.  He has drafted thousands of pages of airplane designs.

Lunn’s designs are rooted in his aeronautical knowledge, the Bible, and Star Trek. His technical drawings are done on large sheets of Mylar, and many are covered in writings about religious, political, and personal events. He proudly sent his drawings to the Queen of England and the President of the United States (although I understand they did not respond).

It is quite a sight to see Lunn’s “canvasses” hung in the gallery, and it is impossible to walk by them without stopping to examine the details. I wish Lunn could have been there to explain some of his ideas. I saw the exhibit with a young engineering student who was intrigued by the work, and spent hours poring over the specifications and patent information that Lunn had set out in separate letters. Could one of his drawings ever be successfully built? Lunn, for sure, is quite confident about his technological skills.

You can read more about Helen Keyes and Kate Paulsen’s beautiful work on Gallery Gachet’s website.

On Thursday, May 9^th, Gallery Gachet in Vancouver is hosting a special evening around the current exhibit INTUIT: ART OF THE INTUITIVE.  Be there at 7:00 p.m. to join in the conversation about the differences between intuitive and instructive art making. By shining light on intuitive art practices, the discussion will examine the boundaries between outsider/visionary art and what is accepted as mainstream art.

The four exhibiting artists will speak about their work:  Hugh Lunn, Helen Keyes, Laurie Marshall, and Kate Paulsen. I will be talking about my research on Canadian outsider art. A roundtable discussion will follow.

I will report on the evening in my next blog.

People in the world of outsider art in Vancouver have been telling me that I have to meet “Ray”, but they couldn’t tell me where I might find him. They said he was “around” and that I would meet him sooner or later. Well, I finally met Ray by sheer chance, when he was painting outside the Vancouver Art Gallery last week.

I noticed an artist with a shopping cart full of art supplies:  boards to paint on, big cans of paint, an assortment of brushes. He seemed to be packing up for the day, so I wandered over to see what was happening.  I soon learned that I was standing in front of Ray, and a small collection of his artwork. He was delighted to hear that I knew about him.

Ray is in his 50s, and says he has been painting for a long time, but couldn’t be more specific than that. Apparently his style changes frequently and he just happens to be creating abstract work right now. He loves to paint – that’s just who he is.  I was curious to know how he sells his work. He sells at least one painting a day right off the street. The best sales are at night when the pubs empty out. He says his work is owned by hundreds of people in Vancouver.

I learned something disturbing when I asked if any galleries carried his work. Sadly, Ray says that gallery owners buy up a lot of his work for a few dollars, then sell them in their galleries at highly marked up prices. I asked if they gave him a percentage of sales, and they do not. We discussed the injustice of it all. Ray knows the galleries are taking advantage of him, and is resigned to the situation. Having just written about ethical issues in outsider art (and about to attend a conference on the topic), I am acutely aware how life is for street artists. Their personal circumstances leave them quite powerless in the commercial art world.