Welcome to the most unusual modern art museum in America
Most of the art was created by institutionalized mental patients and incarcerate people. But the art set them free.
Baltimore is full of history. As one of the oldest cities in America, there are stories around every corner. Some of the most well-known spring from the quill of Edgar Allen Poe and history books covering the Revolutionary War. This city brought John Waters and Divine together, both loving the artistic underground counterculture of Baltimore in the 1960s. Beyond battlefields, landmarks, and legendary gays, Charm City is also home to one of the world’s most unique and important art museums.
The American Visionary Art Museum was founded to exhibit and explore works by the underrepresented, incarcerated, and institutionalized. To say that wandering these halls and witnessing the transformative impact art has is moving would be a gross understatement. Rather, it is a profound and, at times, overwhelming journey of empathy, emotion, and visionary magnitude.
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“…Creativity is self-generated in areas of the mind beyond or beneath the individual’s willful, conscious control. All he can do is discipline his consciousness to accommodate the needs of the creative process.”
Visionary artist INGO SWANN
Some artists have only one piece hanging, while others take up an entire floor of this four-story experience. Each exhibit is paired with a short biography of the creator, detailing these creatives’ harrowing and often horrifyingly heartbreaking lives.
The permanent collection houses several world-renowned pieces, including a haunting sculpture carved from a fallen apple tree. Made by an anonymous mental patient, this piece invokes pain, both physical and spiritual, and its visage, along with the tragic story of its maker, sticks with you.
There is a replicated bedroom of Zebedee B. Armstrong, a man who, after being visited by an angel following his wife’s death, spent the rest of his life trying to build a doomsday clock. Cardboard strips covered in crude red numbers line the walls, along with Polaroids of the artist standing amongst his calculations.
Another example of baffling dedication is the work of Wayne Kusy, who, in 5th grade, began building replica ships entirely from toothpicks. His magnum opus, “Lusitania,” sits on the main floor of AVAM. Over two years and 193,000 toothpicks later, this stunning vessel continues to make its mark on art lovers and craftsmen alike.
One of the profound exhibitions currently on display is “The Secret Within: The Art of Judith Scott.” Handspun cocoons of string and yarn explore the liberation of self and embody the transformative story of the artist herself. Featuring poems and observations from the artist’s twin sister, this moving exhibit exposes the resiliency of spirit and the power that art has on personal expression.
Between the massive mosaics of shining glass and mind-boggling stories held within, this museum excels in cultivating a truly unique collection. Hailed as one of the most impactful and influential modern art museums, AVAM continues to blaze a trail for incredible and unconventional artistic expression.
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