I have seen a lot of things in the outsider art world. I like some things; I don’t like others. But some works are mind-blowing and beautiful. Such are the creations of Emery Blagdon’s healing machines, on exhibit at the Kohler Arts Center.

Emery Blagdon (1907-1986) grew up in Nebraska. He inherited an uncle’s farm in 1955 and set about to harness the earth’s energies. Both of his parents had died from cancer and Blagdon hoped he might discover how to cure pain and illness. He began building healing machines in the barn, using scraps of wire, metal, beads, foil, vial of dirt, and mirrors. He worked continuously on this project for the next 30 years.

The healing machines were later installed in an adjoining shed that could house the entire machine. (See photo below.) He invited people in to receive the healing powers of his creation.

In 1975, Blagdon went to a pharmacy in search of “elements” to add to his machine. Pharmacist, Dan Dryden, was curious about Blagdon’s project and went out to the farm to see it himself. He (obviously) was astonished, and followed Blagdon’s progress for the rest of his life. Dryden moved away, but 11 years later on a return trip to Nebraska, he discovered that Blagdon has recently died. (Sadly, he died of cancer.) The farm and the healing machine were up for auction. To keep the entire work intact, Dryden and a friend purchased it. Parts of it were occasionally exhibited nationally and internationally, but the bulk of it was stored for 18 years.  In 2004, the Kohler Foundation took over the entire masterpiece and it is now part of its permanent collection.

It is hard to describe what it’s like to walk through a room of Blagdon’s creations. The magnitude of the project is awe-inspiring. The intricacy and shimmer of the hanging pieces are as beautiful as chandeliers. The room is quiet as visitors gaze at the magical display, swaying ever-so-slightly, as someone walks by. It feels like a sacred place.

Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, organized a bus trip to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to visit the Kohler Arts Center. Kohler’s current exhibit is called Yoshida’s Museum of Extraordinary Values. Here is a short bio about Chicago artist, Ray Yoshida:

Ray Yoshida (1930–2009) taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for nearly four decades and had an indelible influence on generations of artists, including the Chicago Imagists. With his guidance, students learned to look beyond the confines of Western art, to explore source material that would propel their work into something unique to their experience. Whether it involved examining form in the array of African masks at The Field Museum, contemplating color in the weird and wonderful treasures at Maxwell Street Market, or understanding line in the works of self-taught artist Joseph Yoakum, Yoshida’s idea was to instinctively follow the eye to whatever ignited artistic sensibilities.

Yoshida was an obsessive collector of many, many things. His entire collection was on display in his home – lining shelves, on the walls, on the floor. Yoshida considered Chicago to be a city of objects and images, all of which triggered creative ideas. He encouraged his students to look and value objects and works of art in a new way, even if they were not appreciated by the art community. He removed folk art, manufactured goods, fine art and tribal pieces from their usual context and placed them on display in his home. “Once “rescued” into his home, the previous lives of the objects dissipated, new interpretations arose, and exciting conversations ensued.”

When Yoshida died in 2009, the Kohler Arts Center received the contents of his home – 2,600 objects and works of art. They are displayed in the museum as they were in his home. Over 60 of Yoshida’s own paintings are incorporated into the exhibit.  It challenges visitors to study their daily surroundings, be “voracious observers”, and train the eye to see everything. That is what sparks creativity.

Here is some of Yoshida’s own artwork:

If you have read my previous blog, you will know that I am in Chicago, spending some time with Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Every year Intuit has a Visionary Ball – an art auction to raise funds for their not-for-profit organization. Artwork for auction is donated by generous members and supporting galleries. This year’s visionary award winner was Ann Nathan, who has been collecting outsider art even before it was recognized as art. She was commemorated for her leadership role in establishing Intuit and for increasing our knowledge and appreciation of self-taught and outsider artists.

Ann Nathan has always championed the work of Joe Coleman, a very well-known and controversial New York outsider artist. Coleman was at the Ball to give his thanks to Nathan for her unflagging support. I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet Coleman, but there he was, standing around with everyone else, shooting the breeze, getting his photo taken, and having a lot of fun. I don’t find it easy to engage in small-talk, especially with strangers, but I plucked up enough courage to introduce myself and ask him a few questions. He is an absolutely delightful person – warm, friendly, direct, and engaging.

Coleman spends a lot of time praising Nathan for her support. He says his work would have gone unrecognized had it not been for her vision and persistence. She introduced the art world to his work with an exhibit where nothing was for sale; she simply asked the public to stop and take note of his work. Like all outsider artists, Coleman has no interest in marketing or promoting his work. He only wants to make it. He is as absorbed in his work as every other artist I have met. Having achieved international recognition does not seem to have affected his work or style.

I asked Coleman about the big scandal at the New York Outsider Art Fair a few years ago. (See my earlier blog about this.) Coleman was “kicked out” of the Fair because was “too commercial.” In other words, he had gone from outsider to insider (that is, part of the commercial art world) in the committee’s view. Coleman smiled and rolled his eyes at this question. He thought it was funny and ironic that he was outside the outsiders now! We wondered where that put him. Is there a name for the outside-the-outsider category? I don’t think he has thought about it much since it happened. He doesn’t care what’s going on as long as he is able to create his art.

I also asked Coleman for his thoughts on the decision to include outsider artists in the Venice Biennale this year. He had some definite views on that. Coleman thinks that outsider art is the new and trendy thing in the art world. He views this action as just another move for the commercial world to cash in on the next trend. He might be right.

He also wished me luck in introducing the art world to Canadian outsider art. It is nice to have his good wishes.

Intuit: Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

If you have not seen a new blog posting for some time, it’s because I am in Chicago now, doing an internship at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

If you are a Canadian reader, you know that there is no dialogue about outsider art in Canada. In fact, my motivation in starting this blog and entering graduate studies was to understand and document outsider art activities in Canada. I suffer from a lack of outsider art colleagues in Canada and I wanted to be in an environment where I was immersed in outsider art culture. So, a few emails later, the kind folks at Intuit in Chicago invited me to spend some time at their organization. I arrived one week ago.

Chicago is THE centre for outsider art in North America. Its roots go back as far as Jean Dubuffet’s post-war lecture in Chicago – Anticultural Positions – where he declared:  “Personally I believe very much in values of savagery; I mean: instinct, passion, mood, violence, madness.” The private collections of outsider art in this city are enormous, or so I’ve heard. I am just on the brink of discovering them for myself. I hit the jackpot.

Intuit is a not-for-profit art centre. Not only do they exhibit outsider art, they are dedicated to educating the public
about it:

Established in 1991, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (Intuit) is the only nonprofit organization in the United States that is dedicated solely to presenting self-taught and outsider art — with world class exhibitions; resources for scholars and students; a Permanent Collection with holdings of more than 1,100 works of art; the Henry Darger Room Collection; the Robert A. Roth Study Center, a non-circulating collection with a primary focus in the fields of outsider and contemporary self-taught art; and educational programming for people of all interest levels and backgrounds.

The most interesting thing happened on my first day at Intuit. Two groups of Canadian tourists walked in to see the current exhibit. I was as surprised to meet them as they were to meet me. Then yesterday another Canadian visitor came in. The best news is that there are Canadians who are interested in exploring outsider art. Sadly, they have to come to the USA to find them. (That will all change once we get our act together. Right, Canada?)

One exhibit at Intuit is of Chicago artist, Eddie Harris. It is called It Takes a Hard Heart. Harris, 78, has been living in Chicago for nearly 50 years. His work reflects the black experience of living in the US. As a child, he picked cotton in Arkansas; as an adult he supported the Black Panther Party. His varied work of bas-relief wood carvings, carved and painted canes; paintings; pencil drawings; and community garden at his home speak to his belief in the inseparability of art, political activism and the search for beauty.

The other current exhibit is the work of Albert “Kid” Mertz (1905 – 1988) is called OHYOUKIDMERTZ. Mertz, once a prize-fighter and autoworker, lived in Michigan. When he retired, he started creating signs with off-beat sayings. The signs are painted on found material: cardboard, wood, shovels, old shoe soles… you get the idea. Some signs will make you laugh out loud and some will make you pause and think, yeah, he is so right.

Intuit also houses a recreation of Henry Darger’s one-room apartment in Chicago, where he lived for 40 years. His living and working space was crammed with paint, tracings, magazines, newspapers, comic books, children’s books, colouring books, broken eyeglasses, religious icons, fixtures, and balls of twine. It’s hard to know where to look first. The intention was to provide a window into Darger’s world. For those of you don’t yet know Darger’s work, it’s worth spending the time to explore his world. His 15,000 page story of the Vivian Girls, which his magnificent artwork illustrates, was written in this tiny, claustrophobic room.

           
Arjuna Cogan, “Working Class”

There are always things going on in our local communities. The trick is to get on email lists so you know what’s coming up. I went to an art exhibit sponsored by the Coast Mental Health Foundation in Vancouver. They displayed rooms of works by people who attend their programs. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was surprised to find the venue packed with people admiring the artwork and having a great evening.

I met an artist, Arjuna Cogan, whose work is featured at the top of this blog. His large painting, called Working Class, sold the minute the exhibit opened (or earlier)!  It is a fascinating, macabre piece, with skeletons and ghoulish figures painted in excruciating detail. It seems that Arjuna paints whenever he can and sells his work to collectors who follow his work. He certainly seemed to be the star of the exhibit.

I was delighted to see three paintings by my favourite artist, Laurie Marshall (below). All had sold before I arrived.

I was most struck by the festive atmosphere and the pride the artists took in talking about their work with the guests. Everyone was having fun! What a contrast to the solemn occasions of some “fine art” exhibits I have attended where art is a serious business indeed. (And there were more “red dots” here than I have ever seen at a high-end gallery.)  😉

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?