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this week in outsider art includes flags, rugs, sculptures and another marvin bailey eyeball jug, plus my 'meet the collector' interview and your new monday anthem

Feb 11, 2024

THIS WEEK IN OUTSIDER ART

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**UNKNOWN** Jolly Roger Flag (c. 1915) via *Lloyds Treasures*

**ARTIST UNKNOWN** Muerte Mask for Tecuanes Dance (c. 1965) // Wood, paint; 12 3/8 × 10 7/16 × 10 1/8 in. (31.4 × 26.5 × 25.7 cm) via *Museum of International Folk Art*

**Marvin Bailey** eyeball jug sold at auction via *Ledbetter Folk Art Auctions*

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**PHILIP HEDEGAARD** Medousa vase (2024) // Stoneware with glaze; 36x39x15 courtesy *the artist*

**ALICE MACKLER** Untitled (2023) // Glazed ceramic; 9.50 x 12.25 x 5.25 in via *Kerry Schuss Gallery*

**MARTÍN RAMÍREZ** Untitled (Seven Stags) (1953) // Graphite and crayon on pieced paper; 28 x 24 in. via *The Keen Collection*

**MAURICE "LE GRAND LE SUEUR" SULLINS** Calder Versus Michelangelo (703) (date unknown) // Acrylic on Canvas; 36 x 48 in. via *Hana Pietri Gallery*

**MELVIN WAY** Brown Paper Bag (2020) // Ballpoint pen and marker on paper with Scotch tape; 7 x 4.75 inches via *Andrew Edlin Gallery*

**LORETTA PETTWAY BENNETT** "Housetop" Variation With Center Medallion (2012-13) // Corduroy, velveteen, cotton, and twill; 80 x 77 inches via *Souls Grown Deep Foundation*

**CHERYLLE BOOKER** Medusa (date unknown) // Porcelain, Glaze; 7.5 x 6 x 6 via *Project Onward*

**WILLIAM HAWKINS** Untitled (ca. 1984) // Enamel on Masonite; 58 × 43 7/8 in. (147.32 × 111.44 cm) via *Milwaukee Art Museum*

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FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK

**OLOF INGER** Cosmic Connection (2023) // Assemblage of textiles and electrical cords courtesy *the artist*

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WATCHING AND READING

Here are a few things I’ve been reading this past week:

Here are a few things I’ve been watching this past week:

SHOUT OUT

It’s a new Monday anthem.

Always on Mondays. Always. But even on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, especially FOLK Fridays, and all weekend long — my family, especially my boys, have been singing this song non-stop since we first heard it. My two-year-old requests it to accompany his bedtime snack almost every night.

Take a watch and listen to the captivating, folksy, and powerful voice of F.witch with her latest hit, “Ice Cream on Mondays.”

Really hoping to start sharing MORE music here on #FolkArtwork in 2024 as this page continues to grow and highlight talented visual artists past and present, and singer/songwriters of today like this brilliant psychedelic folk singer-songwriter.

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OH WORD?

Adam Oestreich, Iowa - Meet The Collector Series Part Sixty-Nine

I am really very honored to be highlighted by the wonderful Jennifer Gilbert of the Jennifer Lauren Gallery in London as part of her fantastic ‘Meet the Collector’ series!

While my collection is a little newer and smaller, and it kinda feels weird to be a part of the same series as people like Frank Maresca, Jay Wehnert, and John Foster (who I have been reading and following his Accidental Mystery blog since college), it’s been really fun and exciting to get to know and learn from these great folks over the past five years of running this account, and I hope my collection is half as impressive as theirs one day.

Felipe Benito Archuleta pig sculpture c. 1978 (personal collection)

Part sixty-nine of my Meet the Collector series is a little different. Yes this person is a collector, but in comparison to some others I interviewed, he is a relatively new collector, with his main passion being the promotion of art in this field to audiences young and old. He loves to learn, to research and to share his findings. Meet Adam Oestreich, AKA FolkArtwork on Instagram. Adam has amassed many followers through his true love of outsider, self-taught and folk artists from around the world, beginning his own small collection at home. It was a pleasure to get to know Adam more, and I hope you enjoy learning more about the man behind the popular account!

Thanks again to Jennifer for the feature and to those of you who have already read through these great questions and my answers. If you’re interested in learning about what makes me tick and why I do what I do, give it a read!

read the interview

REST IN PEACE

The past few weeks saw the passing of two beautiful and legendary outsider artists who left an indelible on the art world, leaving behind unique and visionary works of art that will last for years.

Alice Mackler (1931-2024) was originally a painter who found fame as an artist with her bumpy and quaint ceramics at the age of eighty-one. Early on in her life she went to school for painting as she worked to make a living during the day. After a stroke, she took up ceramics and was discovered by a fellow artist at a local pottery class. For the past ten years of her life, she has enjoyed much success, including works being acquired by institutions such as the Whitney Museum.

At the time of her passing, she was represented by the Kerry Schuss Gallery; see some of her works here.

Melvin Way // Photo via Christian Berst Art Brut

Melvin Way (1954-2024) was a visionary artist who explored the connections between art and science with these incredibly detailed and complex artistic equations drawn on found pieces of paper. In New York in the late 1980s, Way was discovered making art at a workshop run for artists with disabilities (he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was unhoused at the time) and then would go on to appear in the first Outsider Art Fair in 1993 and for the past few decades have his art exhibited across the United States and Europe.

At the time of his passing, she was represented by Andrew Edlin Gallery; see some of her works here.

Two beautiful artists and people who made truly unique and beautiful artwork in a field of its own. Rest in peace.

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH

**THORNTON DIAL** Lady Holds Her Tiger (1991) // Acrylic on canvas via *Studio Museum in Harlem*

Meet Thornton Dial, a Black artist from the South with one of the most impressive and stunning oeuvres of any artist you’ll meet. Fortunately, he lived to see his work enter the collections of some of the most prominent museums in the United States. Not only was he able to enjoy success later in life, but his work transcended self-taught, folk, and outsider art as he became a part of the mainstream art world in unprecedented ways, defying what it meant to be a Black folk artist.

“What he does can be discussed as art, just art, no surplus notions of outsiderness required....And not just that, but some of the most assured, delightful, and powerful art around.” – Richard Lacayo

Later this month, you can read about “13 Black Folk Artists from the American South” in an article I wrote that will be published in DailyArt Magazine. Stay tuned!

FROM THE COLLECTIVE

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