Yesterday afternoon, we joined ARTBreakOUT co-founder and art educator Bonnie Astor, along with a group of young artists supported by AHRC, at the American Folk Art Museum. It was our second visit to the wondrous exhibition, “Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler,” featuring dozens of intriguing artworks form Audrey Heckler’s personal collection. On her passion for outsider art that she had begun collecting after a visit to the Outsider Art Fair in 1993, Audrey Heckler told ARTnews: “All this art speaks to me, a lot more than other forms of art.”
The image featured above is the work of the late noted English visionary artist Madge Gill (1882-1961), whose artwork often references a longed-for daughter who was stillborn. A small sampling of our favorite works follows:
Japanese visionary artist M’onma, one of several otherworldly, often unsettling, surreal artworks created with graphite, ink and colored pencil
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/monma.jpg)
One of the first artists to be identified with the outsider art movement, the late Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930) created thousands of intricate drawings of imaginary adventures while confined to a psychiatric hospital in Berne. As the one featured below, they picture a fantastical world created from the artist’s imagination.
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/wolflie.jpg)
Czech artist Anna Zemánková (1908-1986), one of her many striking botanical images that she created to help her cope with her depression
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/anna-zemankovia-untitled-e1574800531816.jpg)
French artist Augustin Lesage (1876-1954), one of many drawings inspired — according to the artist — by voices from invisible spirits, including that of his dead sister
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/augustin-lesage.jpg)
Wide view of one segment of the sprawling exhibition featuring a range of artworks in different media
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/afam-wide-view.jpg)
Linen tapestry fashioned by the late English visionary artist Madge Gill, with City-as-School intern Sage Ironwood to its left
![](https://artbreakout.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/sage-and-madge-gill-e1574798572182.jpg)
“Memory Palaces: Inside the Collection of Audrey B. Heckler” continues through January 26, 2020. Located at 2 Lincoln Square (Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets), the American Folk Art Museum is open Tuesday–Thursday: 11:30 am–7:00 pm; Friday: 12:00–7:30 pm; Saturday: 11:30 am–7:00 pm and Sunday, 12:00–6:00 pm. Admission is always free.
Research for this post: City-as-School intern Sage Ironwood;
Photo credits: 1-5 Sage Ironwood; 6 & 7 Lois Stavsky