Art is not born of us, but through us

March 31, 2017 3:34 PM

"Visionary art" is a catch-all term for visual art that aims to express mystical, transcendental, psychedelic and dream experiences. As with other mediums and styles, women are underrepresented but by no means absent. Though select artists such as Amanda Sage, Allyson Grey and Autumn Skye Morrison often collaborate with and have their work displayed alongside male contemporaries, many more artists remain relatively obscure.

A by no means even remotely comprehensive list of artists mentioned in these articles, plus a bunch more:

Amanda Sage
Allyson Grey
Autumn Skye Morrison
Maura Holden
Martina Hoffman
Susan Seddon-Boulet
D'holbachie Yoko
Monique Munoz
Sylvia Ritter
Emma Watkinson
Brigid Marlin
Shirin Babazadeh
Marzena Ablewska-Lech
Elisabeth Slettnes
Silvia Pecha
Mariela de la Paz
Marnie Pitts
Jessica Perlstein
Elizabeth Banker
Tara Sullivan
Anne Sudworth
Kati Astraeir
Renee Tay
Sonja Tines

See the Visionary Art Gallery for much more.

posted by byanyothername (6 comments total)

Quick note: the Uplift article and interviews include a fair amount of "feminine energy" type baggage. While I have my own issues and objections there, I think we should be able to handle things outside familiar contexts respectfully here. I include them as introductory points to notable women visionary artists, and would like to attach a brief reminder that "visionary art" is an almost endlessly broad term that includes a number of religious, spiritual and secular traditions both regarded as "legitimate" and "woo." While some artists incorporate imagery and concepts associated with "New Age" movements, these by no means define or fully represent visionary art. There are conversations to be had about inclusion, exclusion and cultural appropriation with some aspects of this kind of art here and there, but that's beyond the scope of this post, and not applicable to most of the artists featured. So. Let's try to appreciate the language of dreams without getting stuck on rationaler-than-thous.
posted by byanyothername at 3:38 PM on March 31, 2017 [5 favorites]

Oh, I adore visionary art! *dives in*
posted by Deoridhe at 6:28 PM on March 31, 2017

So, a quibble with the terminology. "Visionary art" may be applied to these "mystical, transcendental, psychedelic and dream" works. But it is also an alternative term for what has been called "primitive," "outsider" or "naive" art — basically, art by self-taught artists without standard or classical training. The American Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore is dedicated to this latter variety of visionary art. (Warning: intentionally retro website there.) Some examples, very different from those linked in the post.
posted by beagle at 6:32 PM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm painting with one of these lovely ladies tomorrow, I'll have to show her this.

Also, she wasn't interviewed for this article, but also check out Ka Amorastreya, another visionary artist (as in how the Uplift article defines 'visionary') and makes beautiful headdresses and lots of other things besides.

A project many years in the making and just recently launched, the Visionary Arts Academy offers online classes taught by many of these artists.
posted by ananci at 12:00 AM on April 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Thank you so much for this post, byanyothername! I love visionary art, and now I have some new names as well as familiar ones to explore.

I've always been a huge fan of Susan Seddon Boulet, who, among other things, published a collaboration with Ursula Le Guin.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:04 AM on April 1, 2017

Wow! Thank you so much for this! Made my morning!
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:20 AM on April 1, 2017