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Our Visionaries

Current Exhibition

All Things Round

October 7, 2011 – September 2, 2012

AVAM's 17th annual thematic mega-exhibition, ALL THINGS ROUND: Galaxies, Eyeballs & Karma, is a celebration and call to awareness of the circular and voluptuous nature of life. This wholly original art exhibition features the exuberant works of 70+ inspired, intuitive artists including: Scott Weaver's 100,000 toothpick wonder,"Rolling Through The Bay;" Adolf Wölfli's intricate mandala-like works; spherical sculptures of artists who are sight-impaired; the micro dot sock-thread embroideries of Ray Materson; and so much more!

Nek Chand

Nek Chand's Rock Garden is now the world's largest visionary environment, with several thousand sculptures spanning more than 25-acres, and is one of the largest tourist attractions in India with over 5,000 visitors a day (second only to the Taj Mahal).

Paul Darmafall "The Baltimore Glassman"

In the mid 1970's, inspired at first by our Nation's Bicentennial, Darmafall began creating paintings using colored glass, house paint, glitter, glue, and found objects. Darmafall's work conveys his strong beliefs about independence, liberty, history, self-sufficiency, the importance of fresh air and the evils of electricity, taxes, and air conditioning.

Howard Finster

Finster's works deal with several large themes—history, biography, autobiography, divine power, worldly calamity, human sinfulness, spiritual salvation, steadfast faith, heavenly reward, and extraterrestrial life.

Ted Gordon

"These doodles are my only legacy . . . each face is mine at the moment of execution, a tentative installment of one interminable self-portrait." - Ted Gordon

Mr. Imagination

"Years ago my great aunt predicted I was going to be a minister, and in a way she was right. I think every artist is a minister and a messenger in a way." - Mr. Imagination

James Harold Jennings

Jennings chose to live without electricity, running water or a telephone in order to create artwork which filled his yard. He carved each whirligig, windmill, sign and wood figure with a simple knife, assembling and printing them with house paint.

Wayne Kusy

"There's a lot of people who like to climb mountains like Mount Everest...I choose to build models. It's safer." - Wayne Kusy

Andrew Logan

"My life is an artistic adventure. The message of joy and happiness, to celebrate human existence." - Andrew Logan

Ray Materson

Most of Materson's miniature embroideries include approximately 1,200 stitches per square inch and measure less than 2.5 x 3 inches.

Mary Proctor

Mary likes to think of herself as a missionary rather than an artist. "I'm just a messenger and they (the people who collect her work) are the deliverers."

Martin Ramirez

When Martin Ramirez came to America in 1925 it was to get work building railroads in Northern California but he did not remain in this profession for very long. While in America he wrote letters to his wife and four children in Mexico and drew pictures in the margins until he was hospitalized in the early '30s and diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Chris Roberts-Antieau

"Even when awful things happen to me, I've found wonderful things along the way. That's what my art is about: the joy and wonder and humor that's all around us, every day." - Chris Roberts-Antieau

Vollis Simpson

Creator of Baltimore's most beloved outdoor sculptural landmark–AVAM's Giant WhirliGig.

DeVon Smith

Creator of the "World's First Family of Robots," DeVon's advice to everyone was, "Don't sit in a chair. Get out and do it."

Paul Spooner

"My work as an artist/mechanic amounts to a constant pursuit of elegance and simplicity. I haven't caught up with either yet because I don't know how to finish things. Except sometimes. And even then I'm not sure." - Paul Spooner

William Thomas Thompson

Thompson's "Seven Days of Creation" are featured hanging from the ceiling of the Tall Sculpture Barn–a gift by the artist to AVAM's Permanent Collection–depicting the biblical Seven Days of Creation. Each canvas is 12 x 16 feet (more than 1300 square feet, total), acrylic on canvas.