Noyes Museum of Art presents 'Awakenings ~ Art & Healing'

Written by Victoria Hamilton Tuesday, 02 August 2011 21:15

OCEANVILLE, N.J. – The Noyes Museum of Art presents Awakenings: Art & Healing, an exhibition of contemporary Outsider Art through November 2, 2008. Awakenings explores the power of art as a tool for healing, hope and communication for people with mental and physical challenges. The featured artists are associated with Hospital Audiences, Inc. (HAI) in New York City, an organization that is devoted to using professional artists to reach individuals in group residences and treatment programs for chronically mentally ill adults. 

Since 1969, HAI has facilitated healing, hope and optimism through visual and performing arts programs for the underserved. Through these programs, HAI gives untrained artists the ability to express themselves, relieve hardship and communicate in a way that is unrestrained by tradition or formal training. Each HAI artist has a unique story that they express through their work. Subjects include fantastic creatures, landscapes, animals, the human figure and abstract designs. Text, dense patterning, repetitive images and transparent overlapping figures are all common formats in the represented work. The professional artists that work with these individuals discover rich talent that is striking parallels to those created by the Outsider Artists of the early 20th century.

The term Outsider Art was introduced in 1972 by Roger Cardinal, a humanities lecturer at the University of Kent. Originally intended to be an exact English translation of Art Brut or “raw art” – a concept formulated by Swiss artist Jean Dubuffet, the term Outsider Art has grown to encompass works that would not have been included under Dubuffet’s stringent meaning of art untainted by cultural, societal and artistic influences.  Outsider Art refers to works that reflect the spirit and meaning of Art Brut, in that they are powerful, original, and created by individuals who largely ignore mainstream societal values, have no formal training and who are often unfamiliar with art history.

Although Outsider Art was originally restricted to individuals who existed almost completely outside culture and society, HAI Gallery Director Betty Marks states, “In my opinion, there are individuals in contemporary society whose art is generated from the same depths of their personalities without regard to societal conventions. The artists at HAI can be considered Outsider Artists because their work reflects their own personal unique styles of expression, without regard to societal values.” The artists presented by HAI represent the spirit of Outsider Art in their visceral drive to create pieces untainted by society, while incorporating therapeutic properties that relieve the hardships of mental and physical disabilities. For more information on HAI please visit www.hospitalaudiences.org.

The Noyes Museum of Art was founded in 1983 to collect, preserve and exhibit American fine art, crafts and folk art with an emphasis on New Jersey artists and folk art forms, reflecting the area's long history, traditions, landscape and culture. General funding for The Noyes Museum of Art is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Arts; the Mr. and Mrs. Fred Winslow Noyes Foundation; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the Odessa F. and Henry D. Kahrs Charitable Trust. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5:00 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and major holidays. The Noyes Museum of Art is located one and a half miles south of Historic Smithville Village, off Route 9, on Lily Lake Road in Oceanville, New Jersey. Admission fees are $4 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. For more information, please call (609) 652-8848 or visit :  www.noyesmuseum.org.