Brrr...Winter/Spring 2009

Detour art is dedicated to the sheer joy of outsider, folk, visionary, self-taught, vernacular art and environment discoveries found all along the back roads (and side streets) around the world.

Detour Art Travel blog
These are a few of my favorite things...follow me

Porter Sculpture Park, Wayne Porter, Montrose, SD

2600+ Outsider, Visionary, Self-Taught and Art Brut artists

800+ Folk Art Environments from Around the World

Museums, Organizations and Web References can be found at the various links.

Additional Book References are available as well.

Detour Art Travel Journal and Photo Gallery for anecdotal tales and personal photographs from the road of self-taught artists and visionary art sites.

Passings

Kathy Ruth Neal, Kansas City, MO, 1945 - Feb. 11, 2009

Rev. Seymour Perkins, San Antonio, TX, 1931 - Feb. 10, 2009

Robert Bruno, Ransom Canyon, TX, 1945 - Dec. 9, 2008

Herman Peters, (husband of Minnie Adkins) Isonville, KY, June 6, 2008

L.V. (Viola) Hull, Kosciusko, MS, c. 1943-April 15, 2008.

Richard "Dick" Wenstrup, New Richmond, OH

Maggie Wenstrup, New Richmond, OH, 1930 - March 3, 2008.

Rosemarie Koczy, Croton-on-Hudson, NY, March 5, 1939—Dec. 12, 2007

Sam Mirelez, San Antonio, TX. March 6, 1928–Sept. 17, 2007.

Jimmy Lee Sudduth, March 10, 1910—Sept. 2, 2007.

references - a little cleaner way to see all of the reference books and resources used to create this site. Buy a book through this site and help support Detour Art.

links - more ways to find great information about self-taught, outsider, visionary art and folk art environments.

save a site - know of an environment in need? Want to help an existing one? Click here to learn more.

blog - the latest news about the self-taught art world, anecdotes and adventures. An art road trip through the Southwest garnered a number of new-to-me sites. Subscribe and follow along...

calendar - latest updates on events and shows.

top 10s - what are the notable sites on other folks lists? Check it out here!

queenodesign flickr site - new photos will get to flickr before they make it to this site

Also, there are a few new additions to the site include art terms and definitions, YouTube™ videos of outsider artists and environments and additional broadcasts from NPR, essential links, and other folks blogs of musings about this art form. There is also a link to join the Folk Art Society's new yahoo discussion group.

You are invited to share your images and stories to help this site become more comprehensive. Please join the new detour art flickr site and post your images. The Detour Art Travels blog has the latest news in the self-taught artworld.

Please sign the guest book at the bottom of the page.

More blogs: (to share your blogs about self-taught art, please email us your link)

Rare Visions Roadtrip (Ride along with the guys from the pbs show, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations)

Narrow Larry's Selected Folk Art US Environments (all google mapped for your travels, by the premier Orange Show Eye Opener Tours guru himself!)

The Official Site of Mr. Imagination (Greg Heller-LaBelle)

Art Found Out, World Arts Observed (Scott Rothstein)

Accidental Mysteries John Foster's great web site dedicated to extraoridnary vernacular photography. And be sure to follow his blog!

ET Wickham's Folk Art World (Arlen Schibig)

Babs of San Miquel (Traveler and folk art collector retired in Mexico)

(Bob Smithy Angel from the collection of Kelly Ludwig)

Rare Visions. Detour Art Exhibit
March 6, 2009 - May 1, 2009
Belger Arts Center
2100 Walnut
Kansas City, Missouri

Opening on March 6, this exhibit has been named one of the "10 to watch for" this year by Kansas City Star art critic Alice Thorson.

Kelly Ludwig, of Detour Art, and Rare Visions' Mike Murphy are exhibiting over 160 pieces from their personal collections, plus borrow works from artists and organizations including The Kansas City Art Institute and The Grassroots Arts Center of Lucas, Kansas.

Contact Mo Dickens at Belger Art Center for tours and addtional information.

(Jesse Howard bed frame from the collection of the Kansas City Art Institute)

Midwest Gallery

Some of the artists represented:
* Clarence & Grace Woolsey, Lincoln, IA
* "M.T." Liggett, Mullinville, KS
* Jesse Howard, Fulton, MO
* Robert E. Smith, Springfield, MO
* Bob Smithy, Plevna, MO
* Ralph Lanning, Republic, MO
* Dr. Evermor, Baraboo, WI
* Kathy Ruth Neal, Kansas City, MO

(Minnie Atkins Animals, from the collection of Kelly Ludwig)

"Rest of the Country" Gallery

Some of the artists represented:
* Howard Finster, Summerville, GA
* Mose Tolliver, Montgomery, AL
* Purvis Young, Miami, FL
* Minnie Adkins, Isonville, KY
* Homer Green, Murfreesboro, TN
* Karl Mullen, Philadelphia, PA
* James Harold Jennings, Pinnacle, NC
* Melissa Polhamus, Virginia Beach, VA
* Mamie Deschellie, Fruitland, NM
* Gregory Blackstock, Seattle, WA

(Ronald Cooper "Devil with Too Big Shoes", from the collection of Kelly Ludwig)

"Hell" Gallery

Some of the artists represented:
* W.C. Rice, Prattsville, AL
* Leroy Almon, Tallapoosa, GA
* Sulton Rogers, Oxford, MS
* Carl McKenzie, Nada, KY
* The Coopers, Flemingburg, KY

(Erika Nelson's "World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the Wrold's Largest Things" from Lucas, Kansas)

Detour Art Travels

Detour Art flickr site

Detour Art - the book
More...
Buy it now...

...and a traveling exhibit in the works...
Smith-Kramer Traveling Exhibitions

Home Court Advantage New book from Kelly Ludwig

Definitions:

There is disagreement within the art community regarding strict definitions of this genre of art, so the definitions below are meant to serve only as a starting point for discussion. It arrived in the early twentieth century as “art brut,” when European psychiatrists began to define the various forms of creative expression that exist outside the boundaries of “fine art.” Offshoots have surfaced ever since. As Rebecca Hoffberger, the founder of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, succinctly describes the drive behind the art, “When it can’t come out with words, it comes out in objects.”

The following are my simple and loose interpretations to serve as a starting point:

Ted Gordon

Art Brut—(translates to “raw art”) It was influenced by Hans Prinzhorn’s book, Artistry of the Mentally Ill; French artist Jean Dubuffet’s original term for people working outside the influences of established art boundaries. The term is only to be used with works from within the Collection de l’Art Brut at Lausanne (examples include Adolph Wolfii, and American artists Martin Ramirez, Henry Darger and Ted Gordon).

Bill Traylor, Figures And Construction, 1941/1942
Credit: Deep Blues: Bill Traylor 1854-1949

Outsider Art—Originally an English equivalent to Art Brut, the term was coined by Roger Cardinal in the late 1960s, broadening the narrow scope of the Art Brut definition to include art that is produced by untrained artists who are unaware of its classic definition, such as those cut off from mainstream society. The term has been designated by academia, not by the artists themselves, and is thought by some to be a bit derogatory in that term implies that the artists aren't "inside" the art world. (examples include ex-slave Bill Traylor, Burgess Dulaney, and Simon Rodia).

Thornton Dial

Folk, Contemporary Folk, or Self-taught Art—Usually these artists are self-taught and there is crossover from Outsider Art. Originally, the phrase pertained to crafts and practical objects of the colonial days that were both visually appealing and practical in craft. Oft times the art is passed among family or a community. The contemporary meaning has been stretched to include the less-than-practical, including hubcap fences and chain saw art. (examples include Thornton Dial, Homer Green, Sam Doyle, and Mose Tolliver).

Howard Finster

Visionary or Intuitive Art—A subset of Outsider Art, usually these artists have experienced a vision or divine guidance that influences their art. These are "safe" umbrella terms that are more encompassing much of the work described, as well as art of the third world. (examples include William Thomas Thompson, Howard Finster, and Jessie and Ronald Cooper, Missionary Mary Proctor, Annie Wellborn.)

S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden

Visionary, Folk, Vernacular, or Grassroots Environments— These environments—homes, parks, gardens, or the indescribable, are often built by visionaries or outsider folk artists. At times, the builders are more integrated into the mainstream. (examples include S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden, Tom Every’s Forevertron, Leonard Knight’s Salvation Mountain, and Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers).

To learn more about outsider art:
Raw Vision’s web site is an excellent resource to get you started.
http://www.rawvision.com/outsiderart/whatisoa.html

Guest book

Search YouTube™ for videos about Outsider and Folk Art

www.flickr.com

More of queenodesign's photos

Jane's Addictions For those who that came to depend on the incredible website, you will find it here.

Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations
Many of the photos of sites and artists found here are courtesy of the Kansas City Public Television series “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations.”  Call your local PBS station and ask them to run this series.

Narrow Larry Harris Photographer, Orange Show Eye Opener Tours Organizer and tipster extraordinaire.

Ideas, tips or hints?
If you have any updates, suggestions or comments to us. Email Detour Art!

Thanks!

Road rules:
Please remember to always be respectful of private property, use common courtesy and treat people with kindness.

If the location is private, never enter without the owner’s permission.

Listings of a lot of stuff: Artists | Sites

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All my blogs... Detour Art Travels... personal musings from the road and the latest news from the outsider art world Geeky things I did today... notes from the cyber-road Bright shiny objects... personal daily distractions Detour Art flickr photos... Other websites... Ludwig Design... An adventure in graphic design (& portfolio)