L. Blaise
Comments Off on L. BlaiseL. Blaise is an artist from Haiti.
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Dino
Comments Off on DinoDino (b. Mozambique) makes Psikelekedana, a type of softwood carving made from the wood of the cashew nut tree. Dino learned to carve at the age of 18 from an elderly neighbor who was a master of the art. He creates scenes of daily life and traditional ceremonies. The scenes help to educate the viewer about customs and also serve to express the history of the community and the culture it represents. (Text by International Folk Art Alliance)
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God’s Love We Deliver in New York
Leave a CommentWe are happy to support God’s Love We Deliver in New York!
God’s Love We Deliver helps to improve the health and well-being of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition. They prepare and deliver nutritious, high-quality meals to people who, because of their illness, are unable to provide or prepare meals for themselves. They also provide illness-specific nutrition education and counseling to our clients, families, care providers and other service organizations. All of their services are provided free of charge without regard to income.
God’s Love was the beneficiary partner of the Outsider Art Fair in 2015. We have donated artworks by Magdalena (Poland), Tony Ocel (Minnesota), and Marie Islande (Haiti) for auction.
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American Originals: Folk Art and Jazz
Leave a CommentWe have donated several amazing folk and outsider art (including artwork by Mireille Delice, Bill Potts, Tony Ocel, and a Mexican anonymous artist) for American Folk Art Museum’s Fall Benefit Gala, “American Originals: Folk Art and Jazz”!
The annual Fall Benefit Gala provides a primary source of funding for the institution and its acclaimed educational programs. The Museum has a long-standing commitment to arts education and serves more than eight thousand New York City schoolchildren each year. Your support will allow the Museum to sustain and expand its wide range of exceptional initiatives and help make the arts accessible to a broad audience.
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Art Creation Foundation For Children
Leave a Comment[October 2015]
We have been given so many wonderful opportunities to support Art Creation Foundation For Children!
Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC), is an arts based non-profit organization created for the personal growth, empowerment, and education of children in need in Jacmel, Haiti. The ACFFC provides art instruction, tutoring, medical care, daily food and water, and educational expenses for students in the program. ACFFC is a pacifist, apolitical, non-governmental organization with no religious organization affiliations.
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Mary Whitfield and Galerie Bonheur were featured in the New York Times!
Leave a Comment[January 2015]
Mary Whitfield and Galerie Bonheur were featured in the New York Times!
On the Margins, but Moving Toward the Center
Outsider Art Fair Evolves, but Holds Fast to Its RootsBy MARTHA SCHWENDENER
JAN. 29, 2015
New York Times: On the Margins, but Moving Toward the Center
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Amos Ferguson in Coastal Living Magazine
Leave a Comment[August 2015]
Several amazing artworks by Amos Ferguson were featured in the Coastal Living Magazine!
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Geoffrey Holder
Comments Off on Geoffrey HolderGeoffrey Lamont Holder (August 20, 1930 – October 5, 2014) was a Trinidadian-American actor, choreographer, dancer, painter, singer, and Tony Award-winning stage director and costume designer. He was known for his height (6 ft 6 in), “hearty laugh” and heavily accented bass voice.
One of four children, of parents who had emigrated to the United States from Trinidad, Holder attended Tranquillity School and then secondary school at Queen’s Royal College in Port-of-Spain. At the age of seven, he made his debut in the dance company of his elder brother Boscoe Holder, from whom he had been receiving lessons in dancing and painting.
In 1952, choreographer Agnes de Mille saw Geoffrey Holder dance in St. Thomas. She invited him to New York; he would teach at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance for two years.
Holder was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City from 1955 to 1956. He made his Broadway debut in House of Flowers, a musical by Harold Arlen (music and lyrics) and Truman Capote (lyrics and book). He also starred in an all-black production of Waiting for Godot in 1957.
Holder began his movie career in the 1962 British film All Night Long, a modern remake of Shakespeare’s Othello. He followed that with Doctor Dolittle (1967) as Willie Shakespeare, leader of the natives of Sea-Star Island. In 1972, he was cast as the Sorcerer in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex. The following year he was a henchman – Baron Samedi – in the Bond movie Live and Let Die; He contributed to the film’s choreography.
In addition to his movie appearances, Holder became a spokesman for the 1970s and 1980s 7 Up soft drink “uncola” and 1980s “crisp and clean, and no caffeine” and “never had it, never will” advertising campaigns.
In 1975 Holder won two Tony Awards for direction and costume design of The Wiz, the all-black musical version of The Wizard of Oz. Holder was the first black man to be nominated in either category. He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design. The show ran for 1672 performances.
As a choreographer, Holder created dance pieces for many companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, for which he provided choreography, music and costumes for Prodigal Prince (1967), and the Dance Theatre of Harlem, for which he provided choreography, music and costumes for Dougla (1974) and designed costumes for Firebird (1982). In 1978, Holder directed and choreographed the Broadway musical Timbuktu! Holder’s 1957 piece “Bele” is part of the Dance Theater of Harlem repertory.
In the 1982 film Annie, Holder played the role of Punjab. He was in the 1992 film Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. He was also the voice of Ray in Bear in the Big Blue House and provided narration for Tim Burton’s version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He reprised his role as the 7 Up Spokesman in the 2011 season finale of The Celebrity Apprentice, where he appeared as himself in a commercial for “7 Up Retro” for Marlee Matlin’s team.
Holder was a prolific painter (patrons of his art included Lena Horne and William F. Buckley, Jr.), ardent art collector, book author and music composer. As a painter, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship in fine arts in 1956.A book of his photography, Adam, was published by Viking Press in 1986.
In 1955, Holder married dancer Carmen de Lavallade, whom he met when both were in the cast of the musical House of Flowers. They lived in New York City and had one son, Léo. They were the subject of a 2004 film, Carmen & Geoffrey. His elder brother Boscoe Holder was a renowned dancer, choreographer and artist. His nephew is Christian Holder (Boscoe’s son), who has also won acclaim as a dancer, choreographer and entertainer.
Geoffrey Holder died in Manhattan from complications from pneumonia on October 5, 2014. His immediate survivors were his wife, Carmen, and their son Léo.
(image above) New York Times, Erin Combs / Toronto Star, via Getty Images
New York Times: Geoffrey Holder, Dancer, Actor, Painter and More, Dies at 84
Note from the director: Geoffrey Holder was a friend of mine, and a fellow lover of all kinds of folk art. He collected everything, including Haitian Art and Amos Ferguson. He was a jolly human being, multi-talented, and always fun to be around. His brother Boscoe was always one of our best-selling artists. May they both rest in peace! We will miss their amazing talent. – Laurie Ahner
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John Barton
Comments Off on John BartonJohn Barton was born December 7, 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri. John’s father was a welder and part-time lay minister and he drew a bit himself. His mother led a disturbed life and died at forty-five of acute alcoholism. Because of his parents’ problems, John experienced a very tough and deprived upbringing.
John always liked to draw, especially at school. At age 14, he ran away from home and quit school. At age 17, John enlisted on the Marines. He painted pictures of his friends at the time. At 23, he married and had 5 children, one of whom died. He divorced several times, remarried several times and always continued to paint.
His artwork was never appreciated until later in life, and in fact, he destroyed a lot of his paintings because he thought they were not valuable financially. Even though he had no feedback or enthusiasm from the art world, he always believed that his art had its own unique worth. “My paintings grew out of my experiences, thoughts, feelings. I’m 60 years old and I’ve wondered what all this means. Needless to say, it’s part of me. I’ve been an artist ‘on the outside’ maybe all my life – self-taught, if that’s possible.”
In August 2002, John called Laurie Ahner of Galerie Bonheur to ask her opinion of his artwork. Laurie saw the work and was immediately taken aback, impressed and enthusiastic about the obvious talent and deep message from this unknown artist who only lived 15 minutes from her home. John says of this meeting: “Since getting in touch with [Laurie], I’ve gained or regained some enthusiasm. The last two years I had almost given up and found it extremely difficult to continue my artistic work. Now I’m at it again- some new things completed, some in process, others in my mind, heart, notes.”
John’s new work is richly profound, with messages both political and spiritual, sometimes tinged with pain. He is not doing art to ‘please’ or to decorate a home; he creates as a response to his own life experience. In this sense, he is a true ‘Outsider Artist,’ having been painting in isolation for almost all of his life.
His paintings are remarkably fertile. Many of the most important works reflect Biblical passages relating to the Revelations, Heaven, Hell, the Resurrection, the Ascension, etc. His painting technique is striking and expressive. Emotive faces are rendered with an astonishing level of energy and skill, with agitated, seemingly effortless brush strokes that are immediately alluring. John is able to transport viewers into a meditative space, communicating his message with proficiency, without sacrificing sensitivity.
Galerie Bonheur is the agent for John Barton’s work. He continues to paint everyday at his home/studio in Illinois and has retired from his jobs to pursue his artwork full-time. He says he will never run out of inspiration for his artwork. Ideas and images come to him at night in his dreams and sometimes wake him from sleep.
John Barton is a talented artist whose mind is always creative and whose intellectual outpour is non-stop. His artwork is expressive, emotionally charged, imaginative and full of powerful messages. He has many styles and does not always paint in the same manner; in fact his canvases sometimes include collage effects with the application of discarded materials such as miniature toys, or of various kinds of paint and varnish, with the medium always being symbolic in its purpose.
John Barton’s work will surprise, tantalize and shock. He is a visionary in the truest sense of the word: his visions become real in the form of paint and canvas. His message is clear: watch me and pay attention! I want to show you, the viewer, what is happening, has happened and can happen in the world! This Outsider Artist deserves our notice and awareness.