Outsider Art Symposia

This symposium is scheduled to correlate with the James Castle exhibit at the PMA, but will also cover the Gee's Bend and Thomas Chambers' works. NOTE there is a scholarship for students, so you can likely get a reduced or free ticket.

Upcoming Symposia

Alternate American Art Worlds
Saturday, November 15, 2008
10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Van Pelt Auditorium

Three major exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this fall explore the complex landscape of American art. No longer seen as a tidy narrative with a single “mainstream,” the history of American art might be better understood as a network of interconnected worlds, some the size of the community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, or as small as the family circle of James Castle, in Garden Valley, Idaho, or as large as the territory between Baltimore and Boston worked by the nineteenth-century marine and landscape painter, Thomas Chambers. All three of these art worlds have existed at some point “under the radar” of conventional art history, or divided into categories such as “folk” or “self-taught” art. Breaking down these divisions and coming to terms with the accomplishment of these artists, a day-long conference will gather to investigate the issues that unite these three exhibitions, discuss recent approaches to such “alternate” art worlds, and map the new landscape of national and international creative interaction. Scholarships are available for students in American art history, American studies, museum studies, and studio art. Sponsored by the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. in the West Entrance.

General public $40; members $30; students $15; box lunch option $10 (served in the East Balcony)
To reserve, please call the Museum’s Ticket Center: 215-235-SHOW (7469).