Top image: Patrick Dougherty’s woven willow stickwork, via Colossal, featured below. This week brings news of folk art trails in Georgia, fresh exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic, and a look at how artists facing precarious circumstances are finding community through their work. There's also a thought-provoking piece on the myth-making around outsider artists. … Read more
“What if we find a sponsor to give us a 3d printer 🫣”Harrie, Sunday, 5.14pm “Sure, I’ll send some emails”Steve, Monday, 10.21am That is the entire conversation that started this. Like most good things here it began with Harrie having an idea, and with the fact that asking for things is terrifying but she asked … Read more
In 1993 I was eleven. Sitting in class one day I drew a black and white cartoon strip about an environmentally friendly earthworm. It went into the Earthworm Cartoon Quiz, a national competition run by Friends of the Earth. Raymond Briggs and Quentin Blake were two of the judges. The Quentin Blake. My earthworm was … Read more
SLART and I are thrilled to launch The Brut List, Studio BRUT’s new directory celebrating outsider artists working across Swindon and Wiltshire. Outsider art (or art brut, “raw…
Swindon has a new studio for outsider art. Studio BRUT opens at Arclite House this August, run by SLART and Harrie Dearing in partnership with Swindon Culture Collective and Hypha Studios. The opening night is Saturday 15 August 2026, 6.30pm to 9.30pm, at Arclite House, Century Road, Peatmoor, Swindon SN5 5YN. Two self-taught artists, one … Read more
A week off my feet, seven voice notes, ten poles from Screwfix and a first cube built and sat in. Building the answer to last week’s question, one pole at a time.
Making Swindon’s Outsider Artists Impossible to IgnoreI’ve lost count of the number of conversations I’ve had with project facilitators, curators, and organisers who all say some version of…
Cass Art has come on board as an in-kind sponsor of Studio BRUT, donating art supplies to help kit out our Swindon outsider art studio. Here is why that matters.
Art as space and sculpture: SLART on lit cobwebs, Musashi, hunting for materials, and building the first cube structure inside Studio BRUT.
SLART on flowing water, Robert Irwin, and the question driving his first project at Studio BRUT: what would a small calming space feel like?
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