Outsider art is the untrained and often spontaneous expression of the stirrings of the soul. It comes when a vision in the world matches an inner longing. It comes from the some unknown and unseen well that resides deep within. It is the audacious reclaiming of art by cavemen who want to express the wind whistling through their bodies. It is raw, hard scrabbled, primitive, and pure. It is not all of art but it has a place. If it works right, it touches you.

Howard Finster saw a face on the end of his finger and a voice told him to paint so what else could he do? William Christenberry returned to Hale County, Alabama every year for thirty years to photograph the same barn with his Brownie camera with settings that read "scenes," "groups," and "close-ups." He had to, what else was he to do with his life? The stories of outsider artists’ response to the world within and without are infinite.



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