I am really pleased to be co-leading a new Research Group on behalf of Outside In for Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre's British Art Network. The Research Groups typically run for one year, and offer an opportunity for an in depth focus on a particular part of British art history, providing new perspectives and … Continue reading Launch of new Research Group: Art created historically in mental health settings
Apologies for such a break since the last blog post – 2022 is flying by! I’ve been continuing with my PhD research and over the last couple of months I have been interviewing artists who see themselves as facing some form of barrier to the UK mainstream art world. Although I have worked in this … Continue reading No Art World Without Artists: Flipping the Financial Script
Although it has not yet reached the highs achieved by auctions of ‘mainstream’ art, the monetary value of ‘outsider art’ is creeping up. This blog is written in light of the recent Christie’s auction of outsider art from the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation which took place earlier this month. I have felt compelled to comment on … Continue reading Changing the way we see success: is outsider art becoming the new mainstream?
As my research continues, I have been looking at the notion of the art ‘competition.’ More specifically, I have been looking at the barriers that surround these competitions; focusing on the application and selection processes. In many parts of our lives, we are encouraged to fit into an already existing and established ‘box.’ This box, … Continue reading Art competitions and their barriers
Recently, I have been returning to the classic texts of outsider art in an attempt to uncover where the marginalisation of this type of work really began. My research has uncovered a few key areas that illustrate how ingrained the idea of 'otherness' and 'us' and 'them' is when it comes to outsider art and … Continue reading Discovering Outsider Art: The Narrative of Otherness
... Only outsider artists First of all, I apologise for my absence, and I hope everyone is managing to stay safe and well in the strange times we are all living through. It’s been a tricky couple of months trying to get hold of books etc. for my studies due the closure of libraries during … Continue reading There is no such thing as outsider art…
Recently, whilst undertaking some research around the role of the critic and what makes artists ‘successful’ in the art world, I came across a transcription of a lecture given by Sir Alan Bowness, Art Historian and Director of Tate (1980-1988), at the University of London in 1989. The talk centred on the idea of artistic … Continue reading The Conditions of Success?
Over the past couple of months, I have been trawling through reviews of outsider art exhibitions published in the UK national press. It has been an interesting exercise, returning to some of the exhibitions I have visited over the past 10 years; this time, with my researcher’s head on. After diving into several of these … Continue reading Outsider Art and the Art Critic
I have just started researching for my next PhD assignment, which will look at the ways the media has reviewed exhibitions of outsider art over the past fifteen years. Whilst working my way through back catalogues of exhibition reviews, I came across Jonathan Jones’ review of the 2014 British Folk Art exhibition at Tate Britain … Continue reading The Importance of Folk Art
Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to be invited to join a panel discussion in London organised by Pertti's Choice in my role as Step Up Coordinator at Outside In. The panel focused on the issue of 'sustainable arts careers for people with disabilities.' It chimed nicely with the work I do on Outside In's … Continue reading Sustainable arts careers for people with disabilities
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