Museums

American Folk Art Museum
45 West 53rd Street
NY, NY 10019
(212) 977-7170
www.folkartmuseum.org
In January 2002, MAFA opened a new 30,000 square foot, five-story building in the heart of midtown Manhattan. The museum's new home was designed by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Works by more than 100 contemporary artists, as well as numerous examples of older folk art, are included in MAFA's collections. Ongoing special exhibitions, with an excellent selection on permanent display. MAFA also publishes an informative quarterly magazine, Folk Art.

American Visionary Art Museum
800 Key Highway
Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 244-1900
www.avam.org
Opened in the fall of 1995, AVAM does a stunning job of showcasing the works of self-taught artists. Based on the premise that visionary ability derives from "learning to listen to the small, soft voice within", AVAM invites guest curators to mount longstanding exhibitions on a variety of provocative topics. Its featured shows have included Tree of Life, examining the medium of wood in self-expression; Wind in My Hair, a celebration of motion in visionary art; The End is Near!, exploring visions of apocalypse, millennium, and utopia; Treasures of the Soul: Who is Rich?, documenting sources of (nontraditional) wealth surrounding all of us; and through September 2002, a timely show entitled The Art of War and Peace. The museum also includes an ultra-organic gourmet restaurant, Joy America (reservations essential; phone (410) 244-6500); a giant outdoor kinetic wind-powered sculpture created by North Carolina artist Vollis Simpson; and a wildflower sculpture garden.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20560
(292) 357-1300
www.si.edu
Extensive permanent holdings of twentieth-century self-taught art, along with special exhibitions. Installed on the first floor of the museum is James Hampton's amazing "Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly", a 180-figure assemblage constructed from gold and silver tinfoil and kraft paper.

High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404) 733-4200
www.high.org
A substantial resource for contemporary folk art, emphasizing the works of artists from the Southeastern US. Permanent collection includes 139 works from the collection of T. Marshall Hahn and an installation from Howard Finster's Paradise Garden.

Periodicals

Folk Art, a quarterly magazine of the Museum of American Folk Art (www.folkartmuseum.org or (212) 977-7170)

Raw Vision, an international journal of intuitive and visionary art www.rawvision.com or (212) 714-8381)

Folk Art Messenger, published quarterly by the Folk Art Society of America (www.folkart.org or 1-800-527-FOLK)

The Outsider, a thrice-yearly publication of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (www.outsider.art.org or (312) 243-9088)

Books

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection in the National Museum of American Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

Kathy Kemp, Revelations: Alabama's Visionary Folk Artists. Birmingham, Alabama: Crane Hill Publishers, 1994.

John Maizels, Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond. London, England: Phaiden Press Ltd., 1996.

Kathy Moses, Outsider Art of the South. Schiffer Publishing, 1999.

Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.

Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector's Guide. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996.

Sellen, Betty-Carol with Cynthia Johanson, 20th Century American Folk, Self-Taught, and Outsider Art. New York: Neal-Schumann Publishers, Inc., 1993.

Sellen, Betty-Carol with Cynthia Johanson, Self-Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, Locations, and Resources. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2000.

Events

Outsider Art Fair, held the last weekend in January every year at the Puck Building in New York City's SoHo district. Includes more than 30 international dealers. For more info, call Sanford L. Smith & Associates at (212) 777-5218.

Folk Fest, held the third weekend in August every year at the North Atlanta Trade Center. Features more than 80 dealers; the Friday night opening party includes dozens of artists. For more info, call (770) 932-1000.

The Kentuck Festival of the Arts takes place the third weekend in October every year in Northport, Alabama. Over thirty years old, Kentuck is a two-day outdoor juried arts festival which attracts 30,000 arts fans. For more info, go to www.kentuck.org or call (205) 758-1257.