Minnesota artists travel to the Outsider Art Fair in New York
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
St. Paul artist Lucy Johnson — known in art circles as Lucy Picasso — has never been to New York. She will be showing her paintings there this week.
“I'm pretty excited,” Johnson says. “I just like showing my artwork to different people that I haven't met.”
For 17 years, Johnson has been an artist with Interact, the St. Paul center for the visual and performing arts that supports artists with disabilities. For the first time, a group of artists from Interact will show their artwork at the Outsider Art Fair in New York, which runs Feb. 27-March 2. Two artists, Johnson and Scott Sorenson, are attending.
It is the leading fair for outsider art. Outsider art has an ever-evolving definition. The most common is art by artists who are not formally trained, or art that exists outside of the conventions of the traditional art world.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Interact gallery director Brittany Kieler, who will also attend the fair, says this was a dream of Interact’s founders. The nonprofit has applied several times for the fair.
“It's something that's been a goal for a long time for us, so it's finally coming true,” Kieler says.
In addition to Johnson and Sorensen, the works of Interact artists Carl Clark, Janice Essick and Matt Zimdars are on display at the fair.
Interact tapped artist Lauren dela Roche to curate the show. Dela Roche is based in St. Louis, Miss., but lived in Minnesota for several years.
“I have been interested in what the artists are doing at Interact for a very long time,” dela Roche says.
Dela Roche visited Interact and laid out all the potential artworks for the fair.
“I wanted to create an environment with all the pieces working together,” dela Roche says. “You could see Lucy's portraits somehow living in Carl Clark's landscapes. And this idea of Scott's masks having a similar theme to the way Janice is so raw with her emotions and her faces.”
Dela Roche says showing in New York is an important step for artists.
“It's a pivotal point in an artist's career, but it also can kind of legitimize the art in a different way, especially if you're in the arts outsider realm, because you will have people that view art in a more critical lens looking at your work,” dela Roche says.
Johnson uses acrylic paints, paint markers and colored pencils. She also sculpts. Much of her work features celebrities, including Garth Brooks, Lucille Ball, Cher and Prince. Alongside these are figures from art history — Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo. Johnson also loves horror movies, which has inspired several paintings.
“Lucy is very well known for her scary portraiture,” dela Roche says.
Johnson’s favorite painting going to New York is a portrait of Carrie, from the 1976 horror film.
“Carrie is about a girl with a bloody face and a red dress,” Johnson says. “She's an icon, just like Medusa.”
Dear reader,
Political debates with family or friends can get heated. But what if there was a way to handle them better?
You can learn how to have civil political conversations with our new e-book!
Download our free e-book, Talking Sense: Have Hard Political Conversations, Better, and learn how to talk without the tension.
