Outside the Art Box

Picture the world of art as a penny. Fine art is on one side. When you flip it over, you have outsider art. The otherside of the art world.

I was introduced to outsider art in early 2006 by fiber artist, Susan Sorrell. Like most of the general public, my best guess before this moment was that these artists were creating out in the rain or toiling out under the stars. Artists working outside, but in fact Outsider Art is an entire class of it's own in the art world, outside the rules of fine art, and judged with a completely different eye than fine art.

Outsider art is a reflection of free and wide open creativity. Outsider artists are generally self taught and operate on a clean slate with very little, if any, knowlege of the art form and without immitation.

In 2006 I put together the TRAM Fair, the first SC nonprofit outsider art fair in Travelers Rest, SC which brings together outsider artists from around the southeast. I made this blog to continue my efforts to educate the public about these brilliant, yet often overlooked artists.