❥ interview with valérie rousseau

the american folk art museum curator talks her influential grandfathers and the "self-made" exhibit, plus shout out to the dads out there

Jun 21, 2026

THIS WEEK IN OUTSIDER ART

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Vintage Carnival Clown Ball Toss Board // Paint on wood; Measures 24.5” H 21.5” W x 12” D -- from the collection of Marjorie Freed via *Rivich Auction*

Old Folk Art Moonshine XXX Crock Jug // Measures 7.5” H x 4.75” diameter x 6” W including handle -- Collection of Marjorie Freed via *Rivich Auction*

**GINA PHILLIPS** Tooth Sampler (2011) // Fabric, thread, ink, paint; 108” x 84” via *www.ginaphillips.org*

Chicken Bone Thrones created by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (date unknown) via Philadelphia Art Museum

**RUBY BRADFORD** Taco Cat 1 (2026) // Mixed Media on Illustration Board; 11x14 via *Project Onward*

**CC (Alireza Asbahi)** Untitled (2025) // Fabric, marker on repurposed textile; 20 x 19 inches; 50.8 x 48.3 cm via *Cavin-Morris Gallery*

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**DEMETRIO GARCÍA AGUILAR** Vida después de la vida (Life after Life) (2001) // Polychrome ceramic and wire / cerámica policromada y alambre; 16 3/4” x 11 3/4” x 4” via *National Museum of Mexican Art*

**LUCY T. PETTWAY** Housetop and Bricklayer with Bars quilt (ca. 1955) // Cotton and acetate; 91 3/8 × 80 1/8 in. (232.1 × 203.5 cm) via *The Met Museum*

“Lucy T. Pettway was known to be a keen observer of the world around her. She carried paper and pencil as she walked to and from her work in the fields each day and jotted down things that caught her eye, later using them as inspiration for her quilt designs. This extraordinary work is the only Gee’s Bend quilt in the collection that seems to be intentionally pictorial. Using the favored Housetop and Bricklayer pattern blocks, Pettway created an imaginary aerial view of the old Pettway plantation, with the large owner’s house at the top and four slave cabins below. The small printed calicos to the left of the houses represent the fields, while on the right, the blue Alabama River flows between red banks.” (The Met Museum)

**WILLIAM HAWKINS** Conuest of the Moon #1 (1984) // Enamel paint on Masonite; 48 x 56 1/8 inches via *High Museum of Art*

**CHERRY JOHNSON** Horses (1996) // Cotton, Broadcloth/Muslin; 84 x 75.5 inches; 213 x 192 cm via *International Quilt Museum*

African Hand Painted Doctor’s Sign // Ailment chart promoting the practice of Docteur Namarabana in Burkina Faso; measures 75.5” x 45” -- collection of Marjorie Freed via *Rivich Auction*

**CLEMENTINE HUNTER** Harvesting Gourds near the African House and Wash Day Near Ghana House, Melrose Plantation (1959) // Oil on board; 73 x 66 ½ inches via *New Orleans Museum of Art*

“This painting reflects Hunter’s deep engagement with the landscape, history, and social politics of the American South, as well as her inventive approach to narrative, sequence, and composition. In the painting, Hunter represents life at Melrose through a series of narrative vignettes that unfold across a series of brown and green slashes of paint carefully paced throughout the composition. These slashes of earth capture the rhythm and flow of the plantation, and also hint at the broader structural and spatial limitations that defined plantation life.” (New Orleans Museum of Art)

FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK

**AFFSOONGAR** Forced into Heaven (2025) // Colored pencil; 9 5/8” X 13 5/8” via *PULP Holyoke*

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OH WORD?

In the ninth episode of FolkArtwork and Friends, Valérie Rousseau, the Curatorial Chair and Senior Curator of 20th-Century & Contemporary Art at the American Folk Art Museum, joins me to talk about what led her to a career in curating self-taught artwork, which included growing up with two grandfathers who were both renowned in Canada, one for their work as an ethnobotanist and the other a wood carver.

We talk about how the organization and the classification of art and nature as a kid led to curating, the works of art she remembers as a kid that will always stay with her, and then a discussion about the latest exhibit she co-curated with Suzie Oppenheimer at the American Folk Art Museum, “Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists,” on view now until September 13th. Plus, I didn’t jinx the Knicks!

Learn more about “Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists” at www.folkartmuseum.org and follow the American Folk Art Museum on Instagram at @afamuseum. If you’re in New York City, visit the American Folk Art Museum open Wednesday–Sunday: 11:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. -- admission is always free.

A new episode will come out next week, before we start getting back to our normal schedule every first Friday of the month. Continue to listen on your favorite podcast player -- Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and with video on YouTube. Like, subscribe, share, and keep coming back for more. Thanks so much!

Watch the latest epsiodes of “FolkArtwork and Friends” here.

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SHOUT OUT

**IONEL TALPAZAN F**ather and Son in Space (1992) // Oil on canvas; 36 x 58" via *American Folk Art Museum*

Shout out to all the dads out there, happy father’s day!

FROM THE COLLECTIVE

PAM PUCK (b. 1990) is a self-taught artist based in Ferrara, Italy. She works as a teacher and spends the rest of her time sculpting and drawing. Her work combines depictions of monsters, demons, aliens, self-portraits, and imagery from ancient art to create scenes that combat hopelessness with humor. By creating simplified figures, incorporating erotic elements, and using vibrant color palettes, Puck creates a unique symbolic language that’s deceptive in its playfulness.

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This Week in Outsider Art

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