American Folk Art Museum

Happy National Drawing Day! ✍️ In a 2017 interview, William A. Hall reflected on the experience of drawing while in his car in Southern California, where he lived and made art for most of the last twenty years of his life. “Picture yourself sitting behind a steering wheel, facing a chain link fence by the park. You know, there’s people walking by all the time, interrupting you. ‘Hi, how are you?’ You have to explain what the heck you’re doing. Cops will stop by.” Through his art, Hall imagined protective solutions to a dangerous world. In intricate, detailed compositions, he devised an illustrated novel referred to as ‘Frankenstein Sequel or Protége’, three pages of which are now on view at the Museum. See Hall’s work in ‘Self-Made,’ now on view Wednesday–Sunday, 11:30 AM–6 PM, through September 13. Admission is always free! - 🎨 William A. Hall (1943–2019, Los Angeles, California), Pages from Frankenstein Sequel (Protége), First Notebook, Los Angeles, California, July 2, 2011; October 1–November 11, 2011; August 13, 2011, Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 12 1/4 x 10 x 1/2 in., each, American Folk Art Museum, New York, Anonymous Gift, 2021.1.8, Image used by kind permission of the Henry Boxer Gallery, London

Henry Darger’s eight-volume fictional autobiography, titled ‘The History of My Life,’ comprises 5,084 pages. Written between 1966 and 1972, during the years preceding his death, the text consists largely of imagined accounts of Darger witnessing tornadoes, disaster, and death. Currently on view at AFAM are several volumes from ‘The History of My Life’, alongside a double-sided sketchbook page that offers further insight into Darger’s expansive visual and literary world. See Darger’s work in ‘Self-Made,’ now on view Wednesday–Sunday, 11:30 AM–6 PM, through September 13. Admission is always free! - 🎨 Henry Darger (1892–1973, Chicago, Illinois), Page from untitled, self-made, and handbound sketchbook, Chicago, Illinois, 1960s, Watercolor, pencil, carbon tracing on pieced paper (double-sided, 22 x 112 1/2 in., American Folk Art Museum, New York, Eva and Morris Feld Folk Art Acquisition Fund, 2001.16.1b, © All Rights Reserved

"Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists" takes a critical look at the historical definition of the “self-taught artist” in the United States from the early twentieth century to today. This exhibition takes a critical look at the historical definition of the “self-taught artist” in the United States from the early twentieth century to today. The exhibition examines how artists without academic training have depicted, conceptualized, and identified themselves on their own terms. In doing so, it aims at challenging reductive, long-standing narratives that have cast these artmakers as amateurs or isolated geniuses working out of time, without lineage, influence, or artistic networks. Drawn primarily from the American Folk Art Museum’s collection, this selection of artworks brings together outstanding examples of paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and artists’ notebooks by key national and international figures, many of them recent or rarely seen acquisitions. 📅 10 Apr 2026 – 13 Sep 2026 📍 American Folk Art Museum, New York @afamuseum 🔗 /events/selfmade-a-century-of-inventing-artists 🖼️ Artworks of Bill Miller, Daldo Marte, Joe Coleman, Mark Hogancamp, Nicole Appel, Otis Houston Jr. & Susan Janow. Courtesy to the artists and American Folk Art Museum

New 4K restoration of ALOISË starring both Isabelle Huppert (young) and Delphine Seyrig (adult) as the titular outsider artist Aloïse Corbaz (who created many artworks, like the one pictured here and currently on view at New York's American Folk Art Museum, during her stay in a psychiatric hospital, which lasted more than 40 years) starts this Friday at Metrograph, accompanied by a retrospective of French director Liliane de Kermadec preceded by a short, QUI DONC A RÊVÉ. ⁠ ⁠ Introduction by STRESS POSITIONS director Theda Hammel (@majortransceleb ) on Friday, May 15th⁠ ⁠ SELF-MADE: A CENTURY OF INVENTING ARTISTS at the American Folk Art Museum takes a critical look at the historical definition of the “self-taught artist.” The exhibition examines how artists without academic training–like Corbaz–have depicted, conceptualized, and identified themselves on their own terms. On view through September 13.

Happy Mother’s Day! 💐 ⁠ ⁠ This year AFAM is celebrating with a Virtual Collection tour, where we will explore connections between motherhood and works from the Museum’s collection. Registration is free! Visit the link in our bio to learn more. ⁠ ⁠ 🗓️ Virtual Collection Tour: Celebrating Mother's Day⁠ ⏰ Monday, May 11, 1:00 pm –2:00 pm⁠ ➡️ Free, RSVP required. To register, visit the link in bio!⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ 🎨Madge Gill (1882–1961, London, England), Untitled, London, England, c. 1954, Ink on paper, mounted on board, 25 x 20 in., Gift of Anthony Petullo, 2025.16.1, American Folk Art Museum, New York,

On May 6, we celebrated 65 years of the American Folk Art Museum—and the extraordinary artists, supporters, and visionaries who make our mission possible.⁠ ⁠ We were proud to honor artist vanessa german with our Audrey B. Heckler Visionary Award, along with Broadway icon, self-taught art advocate, and acclaimed quilter Harvey Fierstein; and our outgoing Board President Elizabeth V. Warren for more than four decades of transformative leadership and dedication to the Museum.⁠ ⁠ Thank you to everyone who joined us for this unforgettable evening and helped support the nation’s museum of folk and self-taught artists. Your generosity sustains free admission for more than 60,000 visitors each year and makes possible dynamic programs that reach audiences across the country and around the world.⁠ ⁠ Here’s to the next 65 years. ✨⁠ ⁠ 📸 : @lucas.hoeffel , @janekratochvil

On Cinco de Mayo, AFAM highlights the work of Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua. Working in ballpoint pen and pencil, she created intricate drawings that she called “Filigree Art,” recalling the lace-like metalwork of the filigree jewelry made by Mexican silversmiths. ⁠ ⁠ Amézcua was born in 1903 in Piedras Negras, Mexico. When she was young, her family moved to the small town of Del Rio, Texas, where she spent the rest of her life. She went to school for just six years, but she immersed herself in art, history, religion, and architecture. An early passion was music, and she wrote lyrics and played a range of instruments. She was offered a scholarship to an art school in Mexico in 1932, but she did not accept due to the death of her father. Only starting in the 1960s did she focus on drawing.⁠ ⁠ Explore more of Amézcua’s work anytime on our website, folkartmuseum.org!⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ 🎨 Scrutinare, Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua (1903–1975), Del Rio, Texas, United States, December 14, 1970, Pencil and ballpoint pen on paperboard, Sheet: 27 1/8 x 21 1/8 ", Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2018.19.1, American Folk Art Museum, New York⁠ ⁠ 🎨 King's Trays, Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua (1903–1975), Del Rio, Texas, United States, 1964–1968, Ballpoint pen on paperboard, 28 x 22 1/8 ", Gift of Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York and the artist's family, 1995.19.1, American Folk Art Museum, New York.⁠ ⁠ 🎨 Melcha Daughter of Salphahad, Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua (1903–1975), Del Rio, Texas, United States, 1964–1975, Ballpoint pen and pencil on paperboard mounted on paperboard, Gift of Evelyn S. Meyer, 2005.10.6, American Folk Art Museum, New York⁠

📣 Announcing our final 2026 AFAM Gala Honoree: Elizabeth V. Warren, folk art scholar, curator, collector, and outgoing AFAM Board President.⁠ ⁠ Warren has served on the Board of Trustees of the American Folk Art Museum since 2007, and was elected President in 2019. Previously she was curator at the Museum from 1984 until 1991, and subsequently a consulting and guest curator. Warren has organized a number of critically acclaimed exhibitions for the Museum, many of which have been accompanied by books, including “Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts” (2011), “The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball” (2003-2004), and “Made in New York City: The Business of Folk Art” (2019). ⁠ ⁠ 🎟️ Join us in celebrating Warren—and 65 years of the American Folk Art Museum— this Wednesday, May 6, in NYC. Your attendance provides vital support to the nation’s home for folk and self-taught artists. Tickets available via the link in our bio. ✨⁠

Otis Houston Jr. shares an original poem at the opening reception for ‘Self-Made.’ ⁠ ⁠ Houston is well known for his installations and performances alongside Manhattan’s FDR Drive at 122nd Street in New York City, where he has improvised an outdoor studio since 1997. Emphasizing a healthy lifestyle, his performances often incorporate assemblages reused from discarded materials. But before expanding the scope of his work, he made small collages. While incarcerated between 1984 and 1990, he mined available print media to build complex, intimate works that confront issues such as systemic racism and institutional neglect.⁠ ⁠ See his work in ‘Self-Made,’ now on view Wednesday–Sunday, 11:30 AM–6 PM, through September 13!⁠ ⁠ Admission is always free!

‘Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists’ takes a critical look at the historical definition of the “self-taught artist” in the United States from the early twentieth century to today. ⁠ ⁠ Valérie Rousseau, Curatorial Chair and Senior Curator of 20th-Century & Contemporary Art, and Suzie Oppenheimer, Ponsold-Motherwell Curatorial Fellow and Research Associate, will lead a virtual walkthrough of the exhibition in dialogue with one another. Together, the co-curators will highlight drawings, paintings, sculptures, films, and notebooks on view in the gallery and explore how artists conceptualized and represented themselves over the last century.⁠ ⁠ 🗓️ Virtual Insights: Self-Made⁠ ⏰ Tuesday, May 12, 1:00 pm –2:15 pm⁠ ➡️ Free, RSVP required. To register, visit the link in bio!⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ Lead support for ‘Self-Made’ and associated public programs is provided by Elizabeth Hurtt and Douglas Branson. Lead support for ‘Self-Made’ is provided by Nina Beaty. Major support is provided by The Loreen Arbus Foundation, dieFirma, Micki Beth Stiller, Roberta S. and Ralph S. Terkowitz. Generous support is provided by Lee Ann Dillon, the Robert Lehman Foundation, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation and Deedee Wigmore. Additional support is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Amy Parsons and Paul Bird, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the David Davies and Jack Weeden Fund for Exhibitions.

Looking for something fun to do with your family this weekend? Come to the Museum for Families & Folk Art. Participants will explore the galleries together and then create “patchwork portraits,” inspired by exhibiting artist Nicole Appel’s work. Link in bio to register! ⁠ ⁠ 🗓️ Families & Folk Art: Patchwork Portraits⁠ ⏰ Saturday, May 2, 10:30 am – 11:30 am ET⁠ ➡️ 212. 265. 1040, ext. 381, [email protected]⁠ ⁠ -⁠ ⁠ 🎨 Nicole Appel (b. 1990, Queens, New York) Hamburgers, Heels, and High Couture Pure Vision Arts, New York City 2014 Colored pencil and graphite on paper 18 x 24 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of the artist in honor of Deborah Hillburn, 2026.1.1

Self-Made and Folk Nation have landed in the AFAM Shop! 🙌⁠ ⁠ Discover exclusive merchandise, artist books, gifts, and home decor inspired by the ingenuity of Self-Taught Artists and American Folk Art. 📚⁠ ⁠ Find our entire curated selection at shop.folkartmuseum.org!