RL
Russell Hill
/
Collections
/
Folk & Outsider Art
Folk & Outsider Art
7
All Collections
Folk & Outsider Art
Furniture / Decor
Tunes
Werner Herzog
John Prine Talking About Songs
Interviews / Radio / Articles
Art
Quiet Thrillers & Neo Noir
Movie Meals
Reads
Gardening
Movies
Horse Stuff
5w
Folk & Outsider Art
Leroy Person
•••
Born in the swamps of North Carolina circa 1907 -- Leroy Person worked with his family as sharecroppers until he got a job at a local sawmill. Never fully learning to read or write, Person developed his own set of numbers, letters, and symbols that his family could understand. He was forced to retire the sawmill due to work related respiratory issues. Now at home he began carving and decorating his home and fence -- his neighbor Ozette Bell gave him praise and encouragement and his art practice was born. He would cut, carve, and color wonderful sculptures with crayon and other waxes.
more
5
20w
Folk & Outsider Art
William Edmondson
•••
William Edmonson was born in 1874 in Tennessee, a son of recently freed slaves -- he worked odd jobs from janitor, fireman, and hospital orderly until the age of 58 when began acting on his visions of figurative sculptures (see below). Using discarded blocks of limestone he carved his works of art that he referred to as miracles -- using chisels he made out of old railroad spikes no less. Five years later he had a solo show at the MoMa, just two years after Picasso was first shown there. Deep in the Jim Crow era, even once recognized, his art was still referred to as primitive or naïve. Regardless, his beautiful and miraculous works live on -- they are strong, soulful, and have both an ancient and modern quality of beauty to them. Edmonson's figures often included revered biblical figures and angles but also notably other revered figures he lovingly immortalized the everyday working-class people around him, such as neighborhood schoolteachers, nurses, and church ladies -- as well as birds, rabbits, and squirrels. What a legend.
more
15
22w
Folk & Outsider Art
Charlie Willeto
•••
Born in the Navajo Nation c. 1897, the son of a Diné medicine man and medicine woman, artist Charlie Willeto worked for most of his life in the family profession before turning to sculpture at the age of 58. He brought to life the sculptures resembling the healing spirits of the Diné culture. His elders didn't like it, but that didn't stop him as he completed around 400 sculptures over the next three years before his passing.
more
6
3
28w
Folk & Outsider Art
Taller Los Tepalcates
• ••
Meet Taller Los Tepalcates, founded in Atzompa, Oaxaca by sisters Laura Enriquez Chávez and Asunción Enriquez Chávez. Their practice takes its name from the broken fragments, or “tepalcates,” that break off from larger clay pots during the firing process. Before and during the firing process in the adobe kiln installed in their courtyard, the sisters cover their creations with the broken fragments -- making these wonderful sculptures as extraordinary translations of the Mexican animal world.
more
14
1
28w
Folk & Outsider Art
Bill Traylor
•••
Born into slavery in Alabama in 1853, it wasn't until he was in his 80s that Bill Traylor began drawing and painting. His works have one foot in the ancient story telling of petroglyphs with a door open to the mythical and one that is distinctly personal and expressive, in line with the greats of modernism. One of the best to ever do it.
more
57
3
28w
Folk & Outsider Art
Marvin Bailey Rock Eye Rock Tooth Jug
•••
Marvin Bailey -- self taught potter builds off of a distinct folk pottery tradition out of South Carolina. Really like the rock eyes on this one.
more
4
1
28w
Folk & Outsider Art
Emery Blagdon
•••
Emery Blagdon -- this Nebraskan lost so many family members to illness that he devoted himself to the building of a Healing Machine in the shed of his family farm -- through sculpture and paintings he sought to harness the healing goodness in the world around him and share it with however needed it. Learned about him via Shrine gallery, props.
more
9
2
Follow Russell Hill
Follow
By submitting, you agree to our
Terms
and
Privacy Policy
© 2026
Privacy
Terms
Support
Report
Cookies