If You're Goin' to Kansas City...

I am honored and awed having recently been informed that a painting of mine will be hanging in a a show in KC beginning next month. They show includes 66 artists, many of them 'classic outsiders'.
trumpeter image by Howard Finster

from Kelly Ludwig:
"Rare Visions, Detour Art" Exhibit at the Belger Art Center in Kansas City

"Rare Visions, Detour Art"

March 6, 2009 - May 1, 2009

Belger Arts Center

2100 Walnut Street, (one block east of Main Street)

Kansas City, MO

KANSAS CITY, MO – On March 6, 2009, the Belger Arts Center will launch “Rare Visions – Detour Art,” a tribute to outsider art curated by two Kansas Citians with extensive knowledge in the field. Curators Mike Murphy and Kelly Ludwig will bring more than 150 pieces of art to the ground floor and third floor galleries of the Belger building. The exhibit will run through May 1, 2009.

Ms. Ludwig is the author of Detour Art: Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Environments Coast to Coast. This 160-page hardback book was recently published by Kansas City Star Books. Ms. Ludwig says her obsession with outsider art has roots in her family: “I grew up with an outsider artist of sorts, my mother. Like so many of these artists who are products of the Depression-era, mom was thrifty and resourceful, and resourcefulness inevitably spawns creativity – using common objects in uncommon ways.” Ms. Ludwig is a graphic designer and holds a BFA from the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Mr. Murphy is co-host of “Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations,” a PBS television show that can be seen on stations across the United States. The show is produced by KCPT of Kansas City. Mr. Murphy, with his co-host Randy Mason and “Don the Camera Guy,” has traveled to more than 40 states over the last twelve years and filmed hundreds of artists in their homes, studios, and workshops (sometimes all at once). Mr. Murphy once said he knew the show was taking a special place in the field of folk art when he found out her appearance on RVRR was mentioned in the obituary of one of his interviewees.

Ms. Ludwig and Mr. Murphy plan to exhibit work from their personal collections, plus borrow works from artists and organizations such as The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. The Grassroots Arts Council of Lucas, KS, also will lend some of their collection for this exhibit.

The Belger Arts Center is located at 2100 Walnut Street, one block east of Main Street, in the Belger Cartage Service building. The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 am – 4 pm, Saturday from noon – 4 pm, non-holiday First Fridays from 10 am – 9 pm, and by appointment. The office for the Belger Arts Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 am – 4:30 pm. For more information please visit www.belgerartscenter.org or contact Gallery Assistant Mo Dickens at 816-474-3250, email: mdickens@belgerartscenter.org. Since March of 2000 the Belger Arts Center has hosted more than 35 exhibitions featuring a variety of media including fiber, ceramics, painting, sculpture, digital projections, and innovative design. More than 50,000 visitors have attended exhibits and other events at the Belger Arts Center.

Click on the links below to check out the artists in the show.

Midwest:
1.Robert E. Smith (b. 1927) Springfield, Missouri
2.(?)(b. 1930) Plevna, Missouri
3.Russell Easterwood(b. 1958) Kansas City, Missouri
4.Teresa Disney (b. 1965) St. Louis, Missouri
5.Kathy Ruth Neal (b. 1945) Kansas City, Missouri
6.Ralph Lanning (1916-) Republic, Missouri
7.Jesse Howard (1885-1983) Fulton, Missouri
8.Myron "M.T." Liggett (b. 1930) Mullinville, Kansas
9.Glenn Stark Kingman, Kansas
10.Ed Root (1867-1959) Wilson, Kansas
11.Inez Marshall (1907-1984) Portis, Kansas
12.Herman Divers (dates unknown) Topeka, Kansas
13.Dennis Clark Topeka, Kansas
14.John Woods (1929-) Kansas City, Kansas
15.Dan Slaughter (b. ?) MacGregor, Iowa
16.Virgil Myers (d. 2003) Wayne City, Illinois
17.John North (1925-1997) Alton, Illinois
18."Dr. Evermor" Tom Every (b. 1938) Baraboo, Wisconsin
19.Clarence and Grace Woolsey (1929-1987 & ?-1992) Lincoln, IA
South
20.“Ab the Flagman” Roger Lee Ivens (b. 1964) Morganton, Georgia
21.Butch Anthony (b. 1963) Seale, Alabama
22.Jerry W. Coker (b. 1938) Gainesville, Florida
23.Reverend Howard Finster (1916-2001) Summerville, Georgia
24.Viola “L. V.” Hull Kosciusko, Mississippi
25.Mary Proctor (b. 1960) Tallahassee, Florida
26.W. C. Rice (1930-2004) Miracle Cross Garden, Prattsville, Alabama
27.Alfred “Big Al” Taplet (b. 1932) New Orleans, Louisiana
28.Purvis Young (b. 1942) Fort Lauderdale, Florida
29.Mose Tolliver (1919-2006) Montgomery, Alabama
30.Annie Tolliver (1919-2006) Montgomery, Alabama
31.Minnie (b. 1934) and Greg Adkins (son, b. ) Isonville, Kentucky
32.Minnie Adkins (b. 1934) Isonville, Kentucky
33.Quinton “Q. J.” Stephenson (1920-1997) Garysburg, North Carolina
34.Reverend Herman Hayes (b. 1923) Hurricane, West Virginia
35.Hubert Walters (b. 1931) Troutman, North Carolina
36.J. L. Nipper (b. 1935) Beechgrove, Tennessee
37.Homer Green (1910-2002) Murfreesboro, Tennessee
38.Sam “The Dot Man” McMillan (1926-) Winston-Salem, North Carolina
39.James Harold Jennings (1930-1999) Pinnacle, North Carolina
40.Linvel (1929-2004) and Lillian Barker (1930-1997) Isonville, Kentucky
41.Jimmy Lee Sudduth (1910-2007) Fayette, Alabama
42.Sulton Rogers (1922-2003) Oxford, Mississippi
East
43.“The Baltimore Glassman” Paul Darmafall (1925-2003) Baltimore, Maryland
44.Stanley Greer (b. 1962) Columbus, Ohio
45.Levent Isik (b. 1961) Columbus, Ohio
46.Bill LaCivita (b. 1951) Cumberland, Rhode Island
47.Karl Mullen (b. 1954) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
48.Gregory Warmack (b. 1948) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
49.Melissa Polhamus (b. 1957) Virginia Beach, Virginia
Southwest
50.Mamie Deschillie (b. 1920-) Fruitland, New Mexico
51.Sam Mireles Birdhouse Yard Show, San Antonio, Texas
West
52.Ree Brown (b. 1926) Seattle, Washington
53.Gregory L. Blackstock (b. 1946) Seattle, Washington
54.Svein “Slim” Sirnes Goldfield, Nevada
55.Reuben Sorensen (1948-) Redway, California
56.Stephen Powers (1956-) Millbrae, California
57.Leroy "Lee" Almon, Sr. (1938-1997) Tallapoosa, Georgia
58.Ronald E. (b. 1932) and Jessie F. Cooper (b. 1931) Flemingsburg, Kentucky
59.W.D. Harden (b. 1964) Georgia
60.Joe Wackerman Seattle, Washington
61.Reuben "R. A." Miller (1912-2006) Gainesville, Georgia
62.S. Evets (b. 1965)
63.C.M. Laster Crofton, KY
64.Artist Unknown Unknown
65.Sulton Rogers (1922-2003) Oxford, Mississippi
66.Carl McKenzie (1905-1998) Nada, Kentucky