Top image via Colossal, featured below.
This week brings word of folk art and outsider shows from New York to Sicily, plus a remarkable 22-year memorial project and news of several artists who deserve wider attention. There's also a lovely tradition continuing in Michigan and a quilt exhibition that spans centuries.
Self-Presenting at the American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museum has a new exhibition up that's worth knowing about. The title suggests work about identity and self-representation, themes that run deep in self-taught art. Read it at Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art.
Review: Outsider Art on Display at a New York City Museum
Reason Magazine offers a review of an outsider art show in New York. It's always interesting to see how different publications approach the field, especially ones outside the usual art press. Read it at Reason Magazine.
Gibellina: October 2026 exhibitions between archives, Sicilian Art Brut
Sicily's Gibellina is mounting an Art Brut exhibition in October that draws on archival material. Art Brut from Sicily isn't something we see often, so this could be particularly revealing. Read it at inItaly.
Outsiders Outside Art Fair continues a Harbor Country tradition
Michigan's Harbor Country is hosting another edition of its outdoor art fair for outsider work. These regional gatherings matter because they keep self-taught art accessible and rooted in actual communities. Read it at Harbor Country News.
Stories in the Seams: Showcases the Enduring Legacy of Black Quilts Across Centuries
An exhibition traces Black quilting from 18th-century bedcovers to contemporary textile narratives. The continuity of self-taught making across such a long span is powerful to witness. Read it at Colossal.
Julie Green's 'The Last Supper' Memorializes Hundreds of People's Final Meals While on Death Row
Over 22 years, Julie Green painted the final meal requests of death row inmates on plates. It's obsessive, political, and deeply human work that sits comfortably in the outsider tradition. Read it at Colossal.
Outsider Art
Highland Current has something on outsider art, though the snippet doesn't give much away. Still, local coverage of the field is always welcome and often turns up surprises. Read it at highlandscurrent.org.
Studio BRUT is an outsider art studio and gallery in Swindon. We publish this round-up every week. For one email when something is worth knowing, join the newsletter at the bottom of this page, and our guide to 155 outsider artists is always open.