Backyard Visionaries: Grassroots Art in the Midwest - Hardcover

"Books that are useful, that show visually where the "stuff" was created, as this on does, and incorporate telling quotes from knowledgeable sources to connect with the work, are valuable resources for the casual reader as well as museum personnel. Backyard Visionaries is clearly one of those."--Great Plains Quarterly"Brackman and Dwigan's attempt to define grassroots art is helpful, but their effort to place this art in a social context is even more gratifying."--Annals of Iowa "Those who are already entranced with this art form will delight in this well-researched--and amply illustrated--approach to the subject; newcomers should be warned that browsing is likely to lead to serious addiction."--The Bloomsbury Review "A joy to read from start to finish. Backyard Visionaries introduces us to the unsung 'makers'--for they rarely considered themselves artists--who have built exceptional environments throughout the Midwest. At first we may regard them as fascinating curiosities, or what one author calls the 'noble savages of the art world, ' working with unrestricted freedom outside the boundaries of artistic and social convention. But the authors reach for a deeper understanding and open our minds to the endlessly intriguing questions these 'makers' inspire."--Elizabeth Broun, Director, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Grassroots art (sometimes referred to as "outsider art") has been variously described as "eccentric, " "unschooled, " "self-taught, " "primitive, " and "raw." Such art is characterized by the use of common, unconventional, or castoff materials; hodge-podge styles; ambitious scale; whimsical expression; and a creative impulse concerned more with the artist's own pleasure than with critical reception of the work itself. Written by members of the Kansas Grassroots Art Association - the oldest organization in t country dedicated to preserving such sites - Backyard Visionaries describes the authors' personal experiences of the artists and their work as well as the artists' cultural contexts and influences. More than 150 photographs, many in color, capture the unusual creations of this fascinating group of artists, and a chapter on preservation tells how we can help maintain the sites.