Want to see something new and different? Visit these artists' sites:

Peter Milton
Kenneth Snelson
Alex CF
James Lehman
Chris Palmer
Dave McKean
Gwen Gibson
Paul Jackson
David Levi
Jon J. Muth
Ginny Ruffner
Ed Carpenter
Michael James

Outside In: Outsider Art and Crafts Renew the Fine Arts

With the opening of The Folk Art Museum, the American Visionary Art Museum, The American Craft Museum, and others like them, museum curators have affirmed a broader definition of art. Or perhaps a better description is that they have attempted to follow a shift in the mainstream of creativity. No matter what, it is certain that any collection of contemporary art will have to include objects from all the arts, to include the best of what is being created today.

It's hard not to notice the astonishing creativity in the decorative and commercial arts in the last decade: stamping and paper crafts, polymer clay, multimedia, graphic design, illustration, calligraphy, furniture and industrial design, and even in comics, graffiti, tattooing, and action figure design.

A few years ago, the term "outsider art" was coined to denote any style that did not fit within the traditional confines of the fine arts. But within a few years, the phrase has already lost much of its original meaning as it broadens almost daily to include more and more. A sense of the difficulty of pinning down just what is "outside" and what is "inside" is seen at the various museum sites, when their mission statements all encompass a page or more of description of the styles, education or psychiatric condition of the artist, and intended use.

Perhaps it's time to consider the possibility that like a moebius strip, the outside IS now the inside. Just as Duchamp and Picasso indicated so long ago, and as most other cultures have known for ages, art is where you see it.

For more on crafts, outsider and visionary art:
American Visionary Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum
American Craft Museum
RawVision E-Zine

ENTER THE MUSEUM

The Museum is online for my personal use and for general educational use only. Wherever possible I will provide links to sites or books where you can find more information about each artist.

Wherever I have been able to contact the artists, their permission has been requested, and noted on the page. If you are one of the artists, and have not yet been asked for permission, please contact me to get a formal request..

	Fiber Art		Glass		Illustration, Painting, Graphic Novels
	Polymer Clay		Book Arts		Etching
	Modern Origami & Polyhedral Sculpture		Ceramics		Stained Glass
	Wood		Jewelry		Art Furniture
	Calligraphy		Grafitti Sketches		Assemblage

How this museum is supported:
Ads on my blog, "TheDesignSpace.net" pay for the hosting and bandwidth. Maintenance of the gallery software and Museum content are done for free as I have time. The museum itself will be kept free of ads as long as I can afford to do so.

Fair use: All images are copyright of the artists or photographers.

More information on Fair Use:

The copyrighted works shown here are presented under the Fair Use Provision of the Copyright Act. This Provision states

"Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;"

1. the nature of the copyrighted work;

2. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;" and

3. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

"The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."

.