Upon seeing the work of the Art Enables’ artists at Artomatic both last year and this year, our curiosity was piqued. The nonprofit art space labels their work “outsider art inside the beltway,” and they insist that they are not a school for disabled artists, but part outsider art studio and part employment program. The 27 artists work full days at the studio one to four times per week—honing their skills, experimenting with new ideas, and enjoying the camaraderie among their fellow artists.
While Art Enables’ staff is there to motivate, encourage and find reference materials for the artists, their responsibilities mainly lie in promoting the artists’ work and outsider art in general by organizing exhibits and managing the organization. Additionally, Art Director Stefan Bauschmid and the rest of the staff serve as the artists’ jury—when an artist feels a piece is complete, he or she places it in the “Finished” folder, from which the staff selects the most successful pieces to be framed and matted for sale and display.
Currently, over 30 framed works hang throughout the studio, along with three shelves of painted birdhouses, flower pots and shelf animals, and two full racks of matted, unframed pieces. Each artist’s uniqueness is exhibited through their use of materials, distinct style, and choice of subject matter. Many of the artists employ Sharpie markers, watercolor, oil pastel and acrylic, often outlining key images in marker before adding color. While the strokes are harsh and deliberate in some artists’ work, others, such as The Playroom by Egbert Clem Evans, use more freeform lines.
Margie Smeller often paints and writes about her dreams and fantasies, as in Dreams I Dreamed (pictured above) and The Water Elephant. In the former, she depicts three images of herself, repeatedly outlined. She appears dressed as a bride, in a pink dress, and as a nun, with accompanying words describing the images, including “I had an beautiful dream to be Maggie Smith. O’thee nun.” In The Water Elephant, the foreground contains a large image of a white elephant, with pink ears and head ornaments, standing on a large yellow block. The text in the sky surrounding the elephant starts, “I made myself a snowball as perfect as could be. Then last night it ran away.” The text winds around the painting, often leaving the viewer unsure of the direction of the narrative. In one area, it also reads, “But first it wet the bed,” and in another, “I thought I’d keep it as a pet and let it sleep with me. I made it some pajamas. And a pillow for its head.” Like many of the other artists at Art Enables, Smeller’s work is awe-strikingly free of self-judgment, self-censorship and pretension, and incredibly refreshing.
