Laila Kassab is a self-taught artist who lives in Gaza. She uses art to transform what she describes as a ...

The job of a muse, says Germaine Greer, is to penetrate the male artist and call forth a work from ...

My article about Canadian outsider artist, Jordan MacLachlan, was just published in the current edition (#94) of Raw Vision, the ...

COOL: THE ARCTIC OUTSIDERS in Norway is featuring the work of two Canadian artists: Jordan MacLachlan from Toronto (see previous ...

COOL - THE ARCTIC OUTSIDERS, is the name of an upcoming exhibit at Norway's museum of outsider art. Canadian artist, ...

Another uber-project from MacLachlan is her vignettes of what does or might happen on the subway. Displayed on a 24-foot ...

I met Canadian artist, Jordan McLachlan, earlier this year. Getting to know Jordan and her work has been one of ...

It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of Martine Birobent. Her epitaph notes that she died as ...

I was last blogging about  Gee’s Bend quilts and my introduction to the work of the remarkable women who make them ...

I have no excuse for my blog silence since I finished my degree.  Laziness, perhaps. Recharging, probably. Anyway, I have been ...

When Lonnie Holley came to Vancouver for an art workshop (see previous blog), it was pretty much what I expected ...

Much to my surprise and delight, outsider art superstar Lonnie Holley was in Vancouver last week. He came with the ...

I attended the opening of a new exhibit at La Galerie des Nanas in Danville, Quebec. One of the featured ...

I was introduced to the work of Anick Langelier at La Galerie des Nanas  in Danville, Quebec. I did not ...

Holy smokes! It has been a very long time since I sat down to write a blog. Far too often, ...

I visited Luc Guerard's studio in Montreal, along with his friend, sculptor Pierre Racine (both pictured at right). I introduced ...

I have blogged about Luc Guerard before (see previous blogs), but had only met him through email and telephone. I ...

My apologies for no blogs coming from two weeks in Montreal. Shortly after I arrived I had major problems with ...

The roots of the terms “art brut” and “outsider art” can be traced back to the writings of Prinzhorn, who ...

I am on another writing retreat in the mountains (it's snowing here!) and I have been silent, not because I ...

I am now writing about one of the most difficult subjects and it's about self-taught artists. *Self-taught* is such a simple ...

  My niece recently gave me a book by Jeanette Winterson, called “Why be Happy When You Could be Normal?” ...

A discussion of outsider art must (to me) include social issues. When the term “outsider art” was introduced in 1972, ...

Howdy. I'm back (almost). Drove into the big city today to get new glasses. I hate to break the news ...

My mother passed away two months ago today. Taking some personal  time this morning to reflect on that ...

Dubuffet’s original art brut collection was ultimately housed in the Collection de L’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland and remains there ...

Day 2 and all is well. I woke up to discover that some creature had been on my deck during ...

Day 1 of writing was very productive. It was definitely the right decision to take myself away from work-work and ...

Why do I hear from so many more of you when I write about “life bloopers” than about art? I’m ...

While visiting New Orleans in December, I caught “Basquiat and the Bayou” at the Ogden Museum, another dynamite exhibit at ...

I just returned from a trip to New Orleans – the first time being away from home on Christmas and ...

Our Faith Affirmed is a current exhibit at the University of Mississippi Museum of Art. On exhibit are the works ...

Sometimes it is worth writing something down, even if it references nothing in particular. Chances are that it will reference ...

I have introduced you to UK textile artist, Anthony Stevens, in earlier posts. I am a big fan of his ...

Sadly, Vancouver artist, Ian McKay, has passed on. He could only be described as “larger than life.”  He started out ...

The world of outsider art is small. It’s good because someone you know always knows someone, who knows someone else ...

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An interesting feature of the Outsider Art Fair in NY this year was the panel discussion about the self-taught artist, ...

I had the opportunity to attend the Outsider Art Fair in New York last week (May 8 – 11). I ...

I introduced you to the ceramic sculptures of Canadian artist, Serge von Engelhardt, in my last blog. I would like to ...

I was blessed to be contacted by one of Serge von Engelhardt’s daughters.  Even better, I had an opportunity to see ...

I was lost in cyberspace - or somewhere - for 6 weeks because of a hacker. If you are reading ...

I had the privilege to visit Project Onwardin Chicago. I was curious to see a collective artist studio in operation ...

I have heard about art made by inmates (usually called “prison art”) since I started researching outsider art. Some authors ...

I have seen a lot of things in the outsider art world. I like some things; I don’t like others ...

  Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, organized a bus trip to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to visit the Kohler ...

I have to take a minute to say hello to my fellow Canadians in Chicago. I have met so many ...

If you have read my previous blog, you will know that I am in Chicago, spending some time with Intuit: ...

If you have not seen a new blog posting for some time, it’s because I am in Chicago now, doing ...

            Arjuna Cogan, "Working Class" There are always things going on in our local communities. The trick is to ...

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

Much as I intend to focus my research on Canadian outsider artists, I learn about other interesting artists through my ...

One introduction leads to another; that’s how I have been tracking down outsider artists in Canada. Pierre Racine (see earlier ...

Ever on the look-out for Canadian outsider artists, I continued my search on a recent trip to Haida Gwaii (formerly ...

Racine:  Birdman (Bronze, 22x11x9 inches) One of the perks of my life as a blogger is that I hear from ...

I attended an International conference on outsider art in May. It was held at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where the ...

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

                                                  On Thursday, May 9th, Gallery Gachet in Vancouver hosted a special evening around the current ...

  On Thursday, May 9th, Gallery Gachet in Vancouver is hosting a special evening around the current exhibit INTUIT: ART ...

People in the world of outsider art in Vancouver have been telling me that I have to meet “Ray”, but ...

I recently joined the European Outsider Art Association   a fairly new organization established in 2009. (Thank you to Nita in Sweden ...

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Many people told me that I should meet artist, Laurie Marshall. I am delighted that I finally had an opportunity ...

   Photos: Gregory Crewdson, August Walla,  Cindy Sherman Sometimes people ask me about certain outsider artists. They comment that all ...

I just returned from a trip to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, in Canada. For those of you who live far, far ...

Computer problems. Need I say more? Finally back on track. After  learning about the Coast Mental Health Association’s art workshop ...

The long, long delay in postings is the result of getting my getting acclimatized to returning to university as a ...

I had the opportunity to meet Alma Rumball's family when I was in Ontario in July. I had been corresponding ...

I want to tell you an important story about outsider artists in Los Angeles. For four years, a group of independent ...

This is a continuation of my interview with artist Leigh Cooney. Question: Who decided to label your work as “outsider”? ...

              This is a continuation of my interview with Ontario artist, Leigh Cooney. Question: Why did you decide to ...

     I have been corresponding by email with Leigh Cooney for many months. Leigh is an artist who lives in ...

         Wölfli ’s artwork is dense with text, numbers, and musical notations. Repetitive music was droning at the  Wölfli ...

I know this blog is supposed to be about Canadian outsider art, and I will get back to that topic soon ...

Some readers do not share my view of Bartlett and thankfully they let me know. They raise an important issue: ...

I had an opportunity to attend the opening of a unique art exhibit in Berlin. I was invited by the ...

The one outsider art gallery that I found in Berlin is called Galerie Art Cru.  I stumbled into the gallery after ...

                    As any serious tourist will do, I checked the Internet for flea markets and outsider art in Berlin ...

I timed my trip to Berlin to see the Morton Bartlett exhibit at the Bahnhof museum. (See earlier blog about Morton ...

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I am staying in former East Berlin and street art is everywhere. It’s not something that I know much about, ...

A panel on the Berlin Wall of Soviet leader Brezhnev kissing his East German counterpart, Honecker. My first plan for Berlin ...

   Even though I describe outsider art as a non-genre, I do see similarities from time to time. I discovered, for ...

    I’ve never met anyone quite like Bill Anhang. He is an octogenarian living in  Montreal, and has a ...

Sometimes you’re just lucky. I sent Menno Krant an email out of the blue last week, and we set up ...

Someone (actually, it was me) announced that the art scene is boring north of the  49th. I was wrong. I have ...

             I find it hard to stay on track and write about only Canadian outsider artists. The world is an (art) ...

I’ve been having a lively exchange with Canadian artist, Leigh Cooney. (More about Cooney in another blog.) The discussion began with ...

I’m suffering jetlag from hopping from Canada to Europe so many times this month. It is impossible to resist following up ...

The buzz about Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis seems to focus on her tiny (3 x 4  metre) painted house ...

Whenever I bump into a likely suspect I ask, “Name some Canadian outsider artists.” After searching the sky for an ...

This blog is for the girl with ruby slippers who asked me about other artists, like Danielle Jacqui, in France ...

After writing about Larry Williams, it's time to talk about voyeurism. Although voyeurism used to be all about the sexual ...

I learned about Larry Williams in an edition of Raw Vision magazine when author Laura Thompkins let us into Williams’s private world ...

A funny thing happened (as all good stories start) when I went out to buy coffee from a shop at the ...

Back to the remarkable Morton Bartlett (see earlier posting). I first saw Bartlett’s work at the Outsider Art Fair in ...

So what do we make of Maka’s art? Is he “just an outsider”, or should he be judged by more ...

I have made many phone calls and sent a lot of emails during my exploration of Canadian outsider art. One ...

What does hoarding have to do with outsider art? I’ve been asking myself that question for the past year. First, ...

I have been remiss in congratulating Renaldo Kuhler on his 80th birthday in November, 2011.  Although I was invited down ...

Douglas Duncan, a Canadian art dealer, discovered Scottie’s drawings and was the first to exhibit his work. Scottie did not ...

Gallery owner,  Douglas Duncan, left a meticulous inventory of Scottie’s work. It provides a chronological list of 260 of the ...

If you know who Scottie Wilson was, you may be as surprised as I to learn that he is described ...

Just when I thought the fun in North Carolina had come to an end my lovely friend, Becca, said that ...

I had the privilege to meet Ronaldo Kuhler on my visit to Raleigh, NC to see the Annie Hooper collection ...

My interest in the world of Rocaterrania – and its creator, Renaldo Kuhler – began in 2009 when I saw ...

Annie Miller was born in 1897 in the easternmost town of North Carolina. She grew up with 12 siblings and ...

By request, more photos of the Annie Hooper collection of statues. The first is a "creature", the rest are Biblical ...

Before I tell you about Annie Hooper herself, I want to tell you about Annie the artist. The most remarkable ...

I know I’m supposed to be writing about Canadian outsider art, but here I am in Raleigh, North Carolina. I ...

What am I doing in Raleigh, North Carolina?! Researching the Canadian outsider art scene has led me down some very ...

I had arranged to meet Marion Harris, a NY dealer in untraditional art and antiques, at the Outsider Art Fair ...

Von Bruenchenhein: furniture made from chicken bones My dream of going to the Outsider Art Fair in NYC finally came ...

Danielle Jacqui – She Who Paints – used to sell buttons and embroidery at flea markets in the 1970s. Her ...

About 10 years ago, I was driving along a rural road in Pont-de-l’Etoille in southern France, near Marseilles. We turned ...

The distinction between folk art and outsider art is somewhat vague.  I often see folk art and outsider art grouped ...

French philosopher Michael Foucault writes about an ancient Chinese encyclopaedia that Jorge Luis Borges claims to have found. In this ...

There are pivotal points in our lives – times when you are certain that life has revealed another one of ...