National Art Education Association

Folk Art and Outsider Art: Acknowledging Social Justice Issues in Art Education Author(s): Simone Alter Muri Source: Art Education, Vol. 52, No. 4, Teaching Art as if the World Mattered (Jul., 1999), pp. 36-41 Published by: National Art Education Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193772 . Accessed: 13/02/2011 13:20

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=naea. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

National Art Education Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Education.

http://www.jstor.org r/ FOLK ART AND OUTSIDERART:

SocialAcknwleg Justice~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i Issuesin~ '0 Ar dual

N BY SIMONE ALTER MURI

he studyof "folkart" and "outsider art" is oftenneglected in the classroom,although these types of artare highly visible in museums, galleries and bought by collectors. The inclusion of "folkart" and "outsiderart" in the artcurriculum can serve as a tool for social awareness.Presenting these forms of artto childrencan help to build a sense of connectionwith the communityand enhance acceptanceof diversity,which in turncan increase an understandingof multiculturalissues, as they are expressed in arteducation.

FOLK ART A conclusive definitionof folk artcannot be found in a glossary of art.Folk artistsusually are described as individualswho are self-taught,are not overlyinterested in the technicalaspects of artmaking,or are those who do not reflect a great deal on the psychologicalaspects of their art.Most folk artistsare everydaypeople, often from lower workingclass and socio-economicbackgrounds. Their artmany times depicts suburban,rural, small-town life. Folk artis frequentlyconsidered to be a catchallterm that includes the art of stylisticallynaive, primitive, and "Sunday"painters. The "eccentric"individual, the hobby artist,senior citizen,and prisoners (Parsons,1986) are grouped together under the label of "folkartists" by the mainstreamart world. Lippard (1990) prefers the term "vernacularartist" to folk artist,since most folk artistscreate theirwork at home.

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999 OUTSIDER ART Outsiderart evolved from the term L'artbrut which was created by artist Jean Dubuffetin the 1940s,literally translatedas "rawart." Interest in outsiderart grew from the publication of the bookArtistryof theMentally III publishedin 1923by Printzhor, an art historianand a psychiatrist.Printzhor (1923/1995) chose to name the art made by the patientsthat he collected bildneri,a Germanterm for "image making."The first exhibit of the artof individualswith mentalillness was held in Parisin 1905 (MacGregor,1989). In 1936,at the InternationalSurrealist Exhibition,the surrealistartist Andre Breton exhibited an assemblage box made by a client with schizophrenia. DuBuffettwanted to liberatethe art from the stigma of psychiatriclabels such as "artof the insane,"therefore he created a non-psychiatricterm to describe it. DuBuffetbelieved that the psychopathologyof the artistwas only one way to purifythe artist'sfreshness of vision. Outsiderart could also include the artof social outsiders, spiritualists,and eccentrics. DuBuffet the freedom and special power of the Figure1. MemoriesBox by "Grandma Carlberg." sought out people who created such art outsiderartist. However, art that is and arrangedto have their work inspiredand executed fromthe depths not compromisedby a style of art, exhibited (Parsons, 1986). Roger of the artist'sunconscious may be very school of thought, or a marketingtrend Cardinal,a Britishhumanities painful,repetitive and include images in the artworld (Ragon,1993). professor,coined the term "outsider that depict unusualpreoccupations. "Outsiderartists" are usually self- art"(Cardinal, 1972). DuBuffetwas Cardinal(1972) described outsiderart taught and have an inner need or inspiredby the "rawart" that he viewed as artcreated by people who have no compulsionto create art.Thevoz, and collected, createdby individualsin relationshipto pre-existingmodels of (1976)believed that the one qualitythat mentalhospitals in Switzerland. art.Currently, the argumentexists distinguishes outsiderart is that it flows Manypsychiatrists, artists, art aboutwhether or not, in today'ssociety, directlyfrom the artistonto the art historiansand artcritics have further anyone can be trulyself-taught and materialwith little censorship. Outsider refinedthe definitionof outsiderart. escape social or culturalinfluences artistsdo not want to translatetheir Ideally,outsider art is artcreated (Ames, 1994). Bourbonnais,a innerworlds to the viewer;they are withoutthe influences of artistic colleague of DuBuffetwho foundeda interestedin creatingwhat flows from culture.The ideology promotedby museum for folk and outsiderart in within.Cardinal (1972) believed that DuBuffetassumes a romanticnotion of Dicy, France,believed that this artwas outsiderart could enable the viewer to the only "real"art. Bourbonnais held experience instinctualfeelings. the view that outsiderand folk artis art

JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION MacGregor(1989) describedthe depictingsocially familiar ideas and (Efland,Freedman, & Stuhr,1996). characteristicsof outsiderart as themes in their art. The integrationof folk artand outsider markedlyobsessional work that reveals artin the classroomcan benefit unique creativityand intensity.This art INCLUSIONOF FOLK ART AND minoritygroups by empowering is raw and poweredby internalforces OUTSIDER ART IN THE students to understandthe distinctions that have little or nothing to do with the CURRICULUM that marginalizeless dominantgroups conventionalmotives underlyingthe Includingfolk art and outsiderart in and the hierarchythat exists in the art so-called"traditional reasons" for the curriculumis an excellent teaching world.Folk artistslive andwork in creatingart. Other attributes of tool for multiculturalpedagogy. many communities.However, galleries outsiderart sometimes include a Multiculturalor "cross-cultural"art, do not often representthem or have continuumfrom rigidgeometric forms accordingto Lippard(1990), is an exhibitionsof their art.The entire to elaboratedetails and obsessive integralcomponent of postmoder art. stereotypes. Efland,Freedman, and Stuhr (1996) believe that the postmodernview of RELATIONSHIPOF FOLK ART cultureis rooted in the present. AND OUTSIDER ART Postmodernismin artrepresents the Afine line distinguishesfolk art art of less empoweredgroups including from outsiderart. Accordingto Borum women, minorities,the elderly and (1993/1994), the differencebetween individualswith disabilities. In these two styles of artreveals more postmodernistart, the distinctions aboutthe individualscritiquing the art, between fine art,folk art,and popular than it does the artworkand artiststhat artare dissolved. Postmodernart they are intendedto identify. Lippard emphasizes the study of contemporary (1990) and Parsons (1986) define folk artists.Many states mandatethe artas artthat reflects the culture.Folk inclusionof multiculturalart and artists artis often recognized as simple art as partof the arteducation curriculum. that appealsto viewers because of its Multiculturalismis a postmodernist directness or honesty. Outsiderart is concern in artbecause content is not artcreated from personal viewpoints, taught thatwill enable individualsto reflectinga somewhatinner or acquireknowledge of artfor art'ssake, psychologicalperspective. Often, all but instead,instruction takes place in nonacademicartists are lumped an attemptto change social together under the label of folk artists. relationships(Efland, Freedman, & Similarto outsiderartists, folk artists Stuhr,1996). . are consideredto be "outside"the The importanceof includingfolk art ...... 0 modem "ratrace" lifestyles, therefore and outsiderart in the curriculum I , . ? artproducts are valued as artificiallinks espouses post modernistpedagogy, .. to., to an idealizedpast (Lippard,1990). since both artforms are createdby L' , . Folk artis importantto society individualsoutside the mainstream because it portrayssocial and historical culturewho are often minorities.This school communitycan accept and aspects of areas or times that are challenges the hierarchyof artin the acknowledgeoutsider and folk artists changed or lost. Folk artistsare often artworld. Social reconstructionism is by invitingthese artistsfrom the barometersof the popularculture. In anotheraspect of postmoder communityto talkwith students most cases, folk artistsengage in pedagogy;it is described as a process and/or have their artexhibited at the of addressing,through the curriculum, school. Discoveringfolk and outsider the inclusionof teachers, students, staff artistsin the neighborhoodand and communityto practiceaction for displayingtheir artor invitingthem to the benefit of disenfranchisedgroups present and discuss their process of

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999 creatingart to the classcan instill a Carlberg,90 years old, who has been teacherto haveher studentscreate art sense of pridein the community. paintingher memories of landscapes. forresidents of a localelder care Eldersmight feel honored to tellstories Shewas invited to exhibither art and facility. aboutpaintings and art objects that discussher creative process with describethe communitywhen they elementaryschool children who attend Fieldtrips can be arrangedto visit werechildren. Postmodem art includes the sameschool that she, her locationsthat are depicted in a workof artfrom social interactions and the daughters,and grandchildren art.Elders in the communitycan be elementsin societythat sponsor these attended,and which now her great interviewedabout the changesthat interactions(MacGregor, 1989). grandchildrenattend. Irene enjoyed haveoccurred in a particular Arteducators can gain access to folk hertrip to the schooland the geographicarea, as wellas the erain andoutsider artists in the community recognitionthat she received whichthe work was created. The

The integration of folk art and outsider art in the classroom

can benefit minority groups by empoweringstudents to understand the distinctions that marginalizeless dominant groups and the hierarchy that ':. ''V.. ,. ' ' ; exists in the art world.

' - ; 4. 9.J , ' .'. . ,' * * , - . *; '.' . :..' - "- I - .- - ,i ';'" z 'h- b'w,+Lxtr.#; -,-- - E . I(; v- - I S.I.k.-I- 11 .{ - ; *1 . h.et.= - *.4rI Figure2. NighttimeThoughts.

by contactingparent-teacher encouragedher to continueto produce inclusionof folk art in the art organizationsand placing notices in the art.Students in the schoolwere curriculumcan help students to schoolnewsletter regarding their inspiredby "Grandma"Carlberg's exploredesign elements, and reinforce interestin meetingelders and other presentation,and in responsethey theirappreciation for the artof early individualsin the communitywho createdart about their memories of the America.Quilts, collages, hex sign createart. Flyers can also be town.This exhibit also inspired a paintings,portrait painting, stenciling, distributedto localreligious groups, andmurals are all part of folk and churches,and social service agencies. outsiderart traditions. Figure1 showsthe artof Irene

JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION APPLICATIONSTO ART HISTORY Folk art and outsider art can be Folkart and outsider art can be integratedinto discipline-basedart into the art curriculum as a education,teaching art history, integrated artmaking,aesthetics and art criticism. Forexample, a discussionof outsider way for students to discuss the social artcould include the studyof art historythrough presenting slides of workby Picasso,Klee, and other artists and political ramificationsof art in Europewho were interested in the artof native people. Teachers could alsodisplay the artof Rousseau(a making and the art "world." Children Frenchpostman) and the artof well- known"outsider" artists. When can to the that introducingthe genre of folk art to begin grasp concept studentsthe artteacher could discuss thehistory of exhibitingfolk art at art of the privileged classes and art museums.For instance, the Museum of Moder Artin NewYork and the NewarkMuseum during the 1930shad of the "folk" are separated by vast majorexhibitions of folk art including thework of "Grandma"Moses (Brown, Hunter,Jacobus, Rosenblum, & Sokol, differences of access to travel, 1979). A studiofolk art experience that is and popularwith the childrenI teach,is to education, training, power. drawor paint on a small,gesso-covered box.Students can draw or paint landscapesof theirneighborhood, Teacherscould lead discussions on of creatingvisual order from chaos. In townor city on thebox andadd collage aestheticsin relationshipto folkart. outsiderart, the emphasisis often materialsto createan "assemblage." Articlesabout aesthetics, criticism and placedon theprocess rather than on Accordingto London(1994), art outsiderart appeared in thiscountry as theproduct. It is unusualfor outsider educationmust be relevantto the earlyas the 1940s.The noted art critic, artiststo conceiveof themselvesas communityand relate to the students' Janis(1942), exhibited and wrote about artists,or oftheir creations as art,until environment.This can foster a senseof artcreated by self-taughtartists. anauthority informs them that they are connectednessbetween the schooland Studentscan begin to understandthe creatingart. Traditionally, the outsider the community,helping to build ramificationsof artcriticism by hasbeen described as producingart in cohesiveenvironment for living. applyingcritical theories to folkand responseto stronginternal impulses, Throughprojects like these, children outsiderart. oftenspontaneous and unprogrammed. canstart to appreciatethe qualitiesof Artcreated by "outsiders"may Mr.O. created art from his internal the communitythat might be resemblesome of the artmade during imagery.During times of inspiration, overlookedon a day-to-daybasis the Expressionistperiod. However, he couldmake several pieces of artat (London,1994). outsiderart is createdin a different one time. Someof his imagesdepicted mannerand with variant different goals frighteningfaces that many students fromthose of the Expressionists. Contraryto outsiderart, the art producedin mostart classes has a goal

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1999 foundintriguing. This association with example,in the Fabulorsiereiemuseum Americanpainters of the20th century. New the artwork the studentsenabled in Francethere is anexhibit of the York:Dial Press. by Dicy, Lippard,L. (1990).Mixed blessings: New art in a manyof them to createtheir own artof SimoneGalimard, an elderly multiculturalAmerica.NewYork: expressionswithout fear of being a womanwho was denied the use of dolls Pantheon. and as a child.Late in lifewhen she London,P. (1994).Step outside: Community- "failedrealist" (See Figure 2). toys basedart education.Portsmouth, NH: Discussionsof outsiderand folk art retired,Simone Galimard collected toys Heinemann. raiseissues of gender,class, ethnic anddolls from flea markets, and created MacGregor,R. (1989).The discovery of the art of theinsane. Princeton, NJ: Princeton equityand the relationshipof the art assemblagesand environments full of UniversityPress. worldand high culture. Such brokendolls and toys in orderto Parsons,P. (1986).Outsider art: Patient art conversationspoint to differencesin the understandand perhaps to helpher heal entersthe artworld. American Journal of andindividuals have fromthe ofher strict ArtTherapy 25, 3-12. abilitymany groups memories Printzhor, H. (1995).Bildneri der to receiveeducation, training, and upbringing(Bourbonnais, 1993). This is geisteskrakein:Artistry of thementally ill: A meaningfulcultural experiences. Folk onlyone of the manyexamples of the contributionto thepsychology and artand outsider art can be creativeforce that can into psychopathologyofconfiguration. (E. Von integrated people tap Brockedorff,Trans.). New York: Springer- intothe artcurriculum as a wayfor whenthey are not under pressure to Verlang.(Original work published 1923). studentsto discussthe socialand createa realisticmasterpiece. Ragon,M. (1993).La Fabuloserie,Dicy, France- ramificationsof art and folkart and outsider art in Impression:SAI. political making Introducing Thevoz,M. (1976).Art brut. New York: Rizzoli. the art"world." Children can begin to the classroomreminds students that art graspthe conceptthat art of the canbe createdin a spontaneousway and privilegedclasses and art of the "folk" be acceptedand acknowledged as areseparated by vast differences of meaningfulfor themselves and for accessto travel,education, training, and others. W here power.Interest in thisnew "ism" alerts N arteducators to questionsociety's SimoneAlter Muri is anAssociate insatiableappetite for novel items Professorand Program Director ofArt in the world an yuexplore: (Ames,1994). Studying outsider art can EducationandArt Therapy at promotehigher-level questioning by SpringieldCollege, Springfield, MA. studentsregarding the values and limitationsof placing labels on people, REFERENCES Interdisciplinary teaching techniques? artifacts,and cultures. Art can make Ames,K (1994).Outside outsider art. In M.D. Instrumentb u i d i g ? Hall& E.W.Metcalf, Jr. (Eds.),The artist visiblethe aspectsof societythat are outsider:Creativity and theboundaries of Computer imaging? hidden the barriersof classismand culture. DC: by (pp.252-272). Washington, paper Sculpture? sexism. SmithsonianInstitution Press. Borum,J. (1993/1994).Term warfare. Raw Likefolk art, outsider art is balanced Vision,InternationalJournal ofIntuitive and on the edge ofthe eliteworld and the VisionaryArt.8,24-31. Jetterpress IDesign? A. La Fabuloserie worldof the unconventional.Outsider Bourbonnais, (1993). Dicy, Curriculumand program develop me nt ? artand folk art have become France.Impression: SAI. marketing Brown,M., Hunter,S., Jacobus, J., Rosenblum, Computerbased multimediafor the stage? termsclassified as such the & D. Americanart. by N., Sokol, (1979). Performance art? mainstreamart world. Currently, EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Harry Abrams. Cardinal,R. (1972).Outsider art. New York: _AI in the same Department? outsiderart is in highdemand, and Praeger. galleriesare paying large amounts of Efland,A, Freedman,K, & Stuhr,P. (1996). moneyto displaythis work. Art schools Postmodernart education:An approachto curriculum.Reston, VA: The NationalArt At Columbia College Chicago where we offer the: in urbanareas have taken pride in MA in Interdisciplinary Arts, MFA In Interdisciplinary EducationAssociation. Book and Paper Arts, MATin Arts Education newmarketable outsider S. themselves: discovering Janis, (1942).They taught For more Information on Summer workshops & the andfolk art has becomea viable Graduate Programs Write: Columbia College Chicago artists, Interdisciplinary Arts Dept., 600 South Michigan Ave., meansto remindthe publicthat the act Chicago, IL 60605 1996, 312 344 7669. of creatingart can help to healand serve a purposeother than decoration. For

JULY 1999 / ART EDUCATION I