American Visionary Art Museum
Encyclopedia
The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in the Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway in Baltimore, Maryland and that specializes in the preservation and display of visionary art
. The city agreed to give the museum a piece of land on the south shore of the Inner Harbor
under the condition that its organizers would clean up residual pollution from a copper paint factory and a whiskey warehouse that formerly occupied the site. It has been designated by Congress
as America's national museum for self-taught art.
The founder and director of the AVAM is Rebecca Alban Hoffberger
, who while working in the development department of Sinai Hospital’s (Baltimore) People Encouraging People (a program geared toward aiding psychiatric patients in their return to the community) began to develop the idea for a visionary museum, an idea that eventually blossomed into the American Visionary Art Museum, or AVAM. Initially, Hoffberger was simply interested in the artwork created by the patients in the People Encouraging People program, and found herself “impressed with their imagination” and looking to “their strengths, not their illnesses.”
Hoffberger was greatly impressed by a 1980s visit to the Musee de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, which was established by French artist Jean Dubuffet as a collection of “l’art brut” or “raw art because of the untamed emotions resonating in it.”8 Hoffberger described the museum as “the best, the most imaginative, the most original museum” and soon adopted the idea of “l’art brut” for her own visionary museum.
To gauge the community’s interest in visionary art, Hoffberger and gallery owner George Ciscle held an exhibit in 1987 titled “American Outsider Art,” at which point she formally announced her plans for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. With the support of her friends and family, Hoffberger petitioned the city of Baltimore and was eventually awarded two buildings near the city’s Inner Harbor worth $1.1 million. The State of Maryland also issued $1.3 million in bonds to finance the construction, which helped jump-start the building process. Hoffberger also relied heavily on contributions and donations, a tradition that continues to keep the museum running today. Hoffberger raised $7 million in six years from donors such as Anita Roddick
. Designed by Rebecca Swanston and Alex Castro, the museum was opened to the public on November 24, 1995.
AVAM has 55000 square feet (5,109.7 m²) of exhibit space and a permanent collection of approximately 4,000 pieces. The collection includes works by visionary artists Ho Baron
, Nek Chand
, Ted Gordon, Clyde Jones, Leo Sewell
, Vollis Simpson and Ben Wilson
as well as over 40 pieces from the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre of London
. Some of this work is displayed in a gallery on the first floor of the Main Building, throughout the James Rouse Visionary Center, and outdoors when new temporary themed exhibitions are being installed.
The museum has no staff curator
s, preferring to use guest curators for its shows. Rather than focusing shows on specific artists or styles, it sponsors themed exhibitions with titles such as Wind in Your Hair and High on Life. Hoffberger takes pride in the fact that AVAM is "pretty un-museumy" http://baltimorechronicle.com/wind_in_hair.html.
. Since its designation – by a unanimous vote of the U.S. Congress – as America's "official national education center, repository and museum for self-taught, intuitive artistry," the museum has produced 15 thematic "mega-exhibitions (as of 2010);" added The Jim Rouse Visionary Center (in 2004) more than doubling its exhibition space and providing an expansive, permanent home to its education department; and added new features to the Baltimore cultural landscape (including the Hughes Family Outdoor Theater, the LeRoy Hoffberger Speaker's Corner, and more). AVAM's Flicks from the Hill Outdoor Movie Series was included in Travel + Leisure magazine's list of "World's Best Free Stuff." Further, the magazine also cited AVAM as one of the "10 Places to See Before You're 10."
events and the annual East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Visionary art
Visionary art is art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences.-Definition:...
. The city agreed to give the museum a piece of land on the south shore of the Inner Harbor
Inner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and iconic landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the...
under the condition that its organizers would clean up residual pollution from a copper paint factory and a whiskey warehouse that formerly occupied the site. It has been designated by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
as America's national museum for self-taught art.
The founder and director of the AVAM is Rebecca Alban Hoffberger
Rebecca Alban Hoffberger
Rebecca Alban Hoffberger is the founder and director of the American Visionary Art Museum, America's official national museum for outsider art, located in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1998, Hoffberger won The Urban Land Institute's coveted National Award for Excellence. In 1999, Hoffberger was elected...
, who while working in the development department of Sinai Hospital’s (Baltimore) People Encouraging People (a program geared toward aiding psychiatric patients in their return to the community) began to develop the idea for a visionary museum, an idea that eventually blossomed into the American Visionary Art Museum, or AVAM. Initially, Hoffberger was simply interested in the artwork created by the patients in the People Encouraging People program, and found herself “impressed with their imagination” and looking to “their strengths, not their illnesses.”
Hoffberger was greatly impressed by a 1980s visit to the Musee de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland, which was established by French artist Jean Dubuffet as a collection of “l’art brut” or “raw art because of the untamed emotions resonating in it.”8 Hoffberger described the museum as “the best, the most imaginative, the most original museum” and soon adopted the idea of “l’art brut” for her own visionary museum.
To gauge the community’s interest in visionary art, Hoffberger and gallery owner George Ciscle held an exhibit in 1987 titled “American Outsider Art,” at which point she formally announced her plans for the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. With the support of her friends and family, Hoffberger petitioned the city of Baltimore and was eventually awarded two buildings near the city’s Inner Harbor worth $1.1 million. The State of Maryland also issued $1.3 million in bonds to finance the construction, which helped jump-start the building process. Hoffberger also relied heavily on contributions and donations, a tradition that continues to keep the museum running today. Hoffberger raised $7 million in six years from donors such as Anita Roddick
Anita Roddick
Dame Anita Roddick, DBE was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing beauty products that shaped ethical consumerism...
. Designed by Rebecca Swanston and Alex Castro, the museum was opened to the public on November 24, 1995.
AVAM has 55000 square feet (5,109.7 m²) of exhibit space and a permanent collection of approximately 4,000 pieces. The collection includes works by visionary artists Ho Baron
Ho Baron
Ho Baron is a sculptor living and working in El Paso, Texas. His controversial pieces have been featured in shows, galleries, museums and public art installations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington and...
, Nek Chand
Nek Chand
Nek Chand Saini is an Indian self-taught artist, famous for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh, India....
, Ted Gordon, Clyde Jones, Leo Sewell
Leo Sewell
Leo Sewell is an American "found object" artist. His assemblages of recycled material are in over 40 museums and in private collections worldwide.Sewell was born in Annapolis, Maryland and moved to Philadelphia in 1974...
, Vollis Simpson and Ben Wilson
Ben Wilson (artist)
Ben Wilson is an English wood carver and outside artist. The son of an artist, Wilson grew up in a creative environment and attended art school. His distaste for industrial waste, cars and rubbish eventually turned into an art form. He creates tiny works of art by painting chewing gum stuck to the...
as well as over 40 pieces from the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre of London
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is an organisation that mounts exhibitions around the world of contemporary automata by a collective of artists based in the United Kingdom. It was started in 1979 in Falmouth, Cornwall.-External links:*...
. Some of this work is displayed in a gallery on the first floor of the Main Building, throughout the James Rouse Visionary Center, and outdoors when new temporary themed exhibitions are being installed.
The museum has no staff curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
s, preferring to use guest curators for its shows. Rather than focusing shows on specific artists or styles, it sponsors themed exhibitions with titles such as Wind in Your Hair and High on Life. Hoffberger takes pride in the fact that AVAM is "pretty un-museumy" http://baltimorechronicle.com/wind_in_hair.html.
Mission
Its educational goals are another example of the museum's unorthodoxy. They include:- Expand the definition of a worthwhile life
- Engender respect for and delight in the gift of others
- Increase awareness of the wide variety of choices available in life for all ... particularly students
- Promote the use of innate intelligence, intuition, self-exploration and creative self-reliance
- Confirm the great hunger for finding out just what each of us can do best, in our own voice, at any age.
- Empower the individual to choose to do that something really, really well.
Reception
At the time of the museum's 1995 opening, it had been reported that Hoffberger's rejection of academic scholarship and her refusal to follow tradition perhaps had upset prominent members of the art world. Despite this, the museum won the support of collectors, critics, and the public through its exhibitions that examine the relationship of art to the human condition rather than to the canon of art historyArt history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
. Since its designation – by a unanimous vote of the U.S. Congress – as America's "official national education center, repository and museum for self-taught, intuitive artistry," the museum has produced 15 thematic "mega-exhibitions (as of 2010);" added The Jim Rouse Visionary Center (in 2004) more than doubling its exhibition space and providing an expansive, permanent home to its education department; and added new features to the Baltimore cultural landscape (including the Hughes Family Outdoor Theater, the LeRoy Hoffberger Speaker's Corner, and more). AVAM's Flicks from the Hill Outdoor Movie Series was included in Travel + Leisure magazine's list of "World's Best Free Stuff." Further, the magazine also cited AVAM as one of the "10 Places to See Before You're 10."
Community involvement
AVAM sponsors Baltimore artistic events, including art carArt car
An art car is a vehicle that has had its appearance modified as an act of personal artistic expression. Art cars are often driven and owned by their creators, who are sometimes referred to as "Cartists"....
events and the annual East Coast Championship Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Other sources
- Mansfield, Stephanie (April 19, 2000). The New Populism: Rebecca's World of Visionary Art and Big, Splashy Parties. New York Times, p. H22.