You, me, and everyone should support living artists. Looking for beautiful and affordable artwork? We’ve got you covered.
Did you know that while you can see the greatest outsider and folk art from artists no longer with us right here every day, you can also shop over two hundred works of original art from self-taught artists from across the globe who have listed their artwork as part of the FolkArtwork Collective shop?!
“People need art in their houses. They don’t need Bed Bath and Beyond dentist-office art. They need weird stuff.”
Ezra Croft
From the beginning, works by Jackie Bradshaw, Esteban Whiteside, Sarah Lee, and Noel Hatfield have been featured. Followed by Christopher Bame, Jordan Sullivan, Reneesha Mccoy, Gabrielle K Brown, and Max Kuhn. In 2024, I’m happy to welcome Ben Gardner, Melody Jean Moulton, Dinah Hanson-Carrillo, Lindsay Carraway, Kathy Edwards Hayslett and Lorena Eliasen to the collective. You can shop over two hundred works of art directly in the FolkArtwork Collective web store on both FolkArtwork.art and directly on Instagram.
For the past year, I’ve been honored to help support, showcase, and sell artwork on this website and Instagram for some of the great artists. Artwork gets added weekly, new artists are added monthly, and we will continue to support and highlight emerging artists from around the globe.
Happy shopping and enjoy good, weird, affordable artwork.
ESTEBAN WHITESIDE
Esteban Whiteside // Birdie
ESTEBAN WHITESIDE Birdie (2023) // Acrylic, wood and epoxy on wood
ESTEBAN WHITESIDE is a self-taught painter whose work is based on the intersectionality of street art and politics. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, he began painting as an act of love. This then led to him dedicating more time and research into painting, with an interest in abstraction.
Always inspired by outspoken artists, after seeing the death of Michael Brown, he felt he could no longer create work that didn’t address social issues. This led to developing an artist narrative stemming from circumstances affecting the Black community. It was at this pivotal point that his inspiration shifted from abstract expressionism and artists like Romare Bearden. It is what Bearden calls “concrete oppressionism”, focusing solely on creating work containing a direct, political message. This leaves little room for interpretation.
DINAH HANSON-CARRILLO
Dinah Hanson-Carrillo // South Pasadena Schadenfreude Print
DINAH HANSON-CARRILLO South Pasadena Schadenfreude (2023) // Print on matte paper, signed by the artist
DINAH HANSON-CARRILLO is a Los Angeles born and raised musician turned artist. She mostly paints from memory or imagination but will often use the faces of musicians and actors to complete a piece. Her other influences are tarot cards, alternate universes, the surreality of Whittier, the idea of many lives living under the same sky, and dreams. All her works are in acrylic and some are repurposed canvases from thrift stores. Each painting has a story.
See more affordable artwork from Dinah.
GABRIELLE K BROWN
Gabrielle K Brown // The waiting game
GABRIELLE K BROWN The Waiting Game (c. 2022-2023) // Airbrush and acrylic on canvas with wood frame
GABRIELLE K BROWN is a multifaceted artist who eagerly and energetically seeks new ways to tell stories through her paintings, sculptures, and public murals. Her work retains an object-like quality, utilizing many folk art materials, including wood and various paints. All while retaining a natural and intuitive, seemingly naive yet extremely complex aesthetic.
The works dissect the relationship we have with ourselves, our companions, and our society. It’s a look back at our past with an awe and celebration of nature and the divine, shedding light on how we grow and how we suffer as human beings. Confrontational imagery is often contrasted with uplifting symbols, actions and words – emphasising the extremes of the human condition and experience.
See more works from Gabrielle.
MAX KUHN
MAX KUHN is a multimedia artist born in 1989 in Richmond, Virginia. Formerly a self-taught tattoo artist, Kuhn traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe for over a decade.
Using limited painting techniques originally developed for making tattoo flash designs, he began illustrating an ongoing travelogue. What started on scrap cardboard evolved into old book covers during long periods of solitary travel. His paintings depict the folkloric characters of cowboy or hobo, often incorporating diaristic and confessional writing.
SARAH LEE
SARAH LEE is a self-taught Irish artist and illustrator working in London. Working full-time as a nurse and at a charity that runs workshops for people with mental health conditions. When she isn’t working or spending time with her daughter, Sarah paints every chance she gets as it is her passion. Since she was a kid, she has made up characters and scenarios in her head and has always loved making art. Unfortunately, at a young age, she was told by an art teacher that she was no good. It took years for her to finally pick back up a paintbrush and put those characters and scenarios down on canvas.
See more affordable artwork from Sarah.
JORDAN SULLIVAN
Jordan Sullivan // 100 Proof Holy Water
JORDAN SULLIVAN 100 Proof Holy Water // Acrylic on Canvas
JORDAN SULLIVAN is a self-taught painter who was born in Houston, Texas but raised in rural Ohio and Detroit. Before becoming a full-time artist, he worked a number of odd jobs, including dishwasher, housekeeper, graphic designer, and on construction crews. He’s lived in Texas, New York City, and Los Angeles, and currently in in Brooklyn, New York.
RENEESHA MCCOY
RENEESHA MCCOY is a self-taught artist who began her artistic practice in 2019, living and working in North Carolina. She works primarily in acrylics and oil pastels. Although, you may notice the additional exploration of various mediums like colored pencil, ink, and paint markers.
A principle theme in Reneesha’s work is her celebration of the consequence of life and nature in relation to the female body. This is often presented in unique and abstracted ways. She uses her personal experience to highlight the internal and external effects of childbirth. Primarily the physical changes that occur from breastfeeding.
JACKIE BRADSHAW
JACKIE BRADSHAW is a neurodivergent, endometriosis warrior folk/outsider artist from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She worked as a PSW for many years until the birth of her son when she had a small home daycare.
Jackie would use the kids’ leftover paints to make mirror image paintings which she would add ink or crayons to pull out images that could see in the splatters of paint. She quickly became obsessed and made hundreds of them. She continues making art daily as a means to quiet my mind and body.
See more affordable artwork from Jackie.
BEN GARDNER
“Book of Sundays #4” by Ben Gardner // Faces In The Crowd
BEN GARDNER Book of Sundays #4 (2023) // Ink, marker, colored pencil, pencil on paper
BEN GARDNER is an artist, writer, and musician. He started drawing on bowling score pads his parents brought home from their league. When he was younger, he would obsess over Commander Mark’s drawing show “The Secret City”. His recent work combines medieval illuminated manuscripts and his interest in folklore, superstition, myth, and storytelling.
KATHY EDWARDS HAYSLETT
KATHY EDWARDS HAYSLETT left her 20-year curatorial position to make art full-time in 2017. Her successful exhibition and sales record includes solo and group exhibitions in Chicago, Provincetown, and Denver, among others. In 2022-23, Kathy received a grant from the Iowa Arts Council for a catalogue of her work. Although she has a wonderful studio in Iowa, Kathy recently completed two residencies at Edgewood Farm in Massachusetts and Grand Marais Art Center in Minnesota.
Through her vaguely unsettling, whimsical, and suggestive narratives, Kathy address aspects of climate change, geoengineering, and the rights and histories of women. The artist believes these issues are interrelated, and her work explores changing natural habitats as subject, as she considers histories of the land.
LORENA ELIASEN
LORENA ELIASEN is a folk artist and illustrator living in Saint Augustine, Florida. She has a BFA from Parson School of Design and has worked on Children’s books and Pattern and Packaging Design with companies like Scholastic, Libraries Unlimited Publishing, Richard Leeds, Townley Girl and Vandale Industries in New York City.
When she is not painting, sewing or petting dogs, she mostly sells work on commission, online and at local markets in Saint Augustine.
LINDSAY CARRAWAY
Lindsay Carraway // Astrology Sea
LINDSAY CARRAWAY Astrology Sea (2021) // Collage
LINDSAY CARRAWAY is an artist from Vicksburg, Mississippi who studied Industrial Design at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn and Metals and Jewelry at SCAD in Savannah. Eventually, she dropped out and became a self-taught artist with twenty-two years of experience in collage works.
She brings stereotypes, controversies, and a focus on the human spirit to life. It’s a cross between the world’s terrain and the abstractions of her mind. Lindsay’s work reflects a myriad of intertwining elements. Blending social, cultural, and political issues with the intricate landscapes of her dreams and visions, shaped by the lens of her schizophrenic mind.
MELODY JEAN MOULTON
MELODY JEAN MOULTON is a self-taught artist from California. She was born and raised in Humboldt County but has called San Diego home since 2002. All of her paper collage work is cut by hand and is largely intuition-based. Letting go of expectations and going with her gut has proven to be her most potent path of creating.
Driven by freedom from preconceived notions and surrendering to her instincts, Moulton’s creative process unfolds organically, guided by an innate sense of exploration and discovery. Her artwork embodies a surreal and dreamlike quality, intricately weaving together disparate elements to draw you in and invoke a sense of wonder and intrigue.
See more works from Melody Jean.
CHRISTOPHER BAME
Christopher Bame // Untitled (Cailfornia)
CHRISTOPHER BAME Untitled (Cailfornia) (date unknown) // Mixed media; markers and paint
CHRISTOPHER BAME was born on June 1, 1955 in Burlington, Vermont. Born premature, Bame was diagnosed as completely deaf as a baby. In his early childhood he was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, OCD, and as having developmental delays. Bame spent the majority of his childhood in an institutional setting. He expressed artistic interest from a young age. He mainly used art to communicate with his peers, convey his needs, and tell stories about his day. His narrative paintings and drawings often capture autobiographical storytelling through whimsy and vulnerability. Bame loves home improvement shows and likes to design homes, blueprints, and maps. He lives with his older sister in Marion, Indiana, where he maintains a steady art practice
See more affordable artwork from Christopher.
NOEL HATFIELD
NOEL HATFIELD is a self-taught artist from Winterest, Iowa. Working in oil paint on stretched canvas or dibond aluminum, Noel paints in several styles. From Abstract to Expressionist and Impasto with knife and brush. When he is not painting, Noel is fixing up his house or taking care of his grandchildren.
See more affordable artwork from Noel.
About the FolkArtwork Collective
It brings me great pleasure to introduce the FolkArtwork Collective — a fantastic group of self-taught and emerging artists from across the globe. Jackie Bradshaw, Esteban Whiteside, Sarah Lee, and Noel Hatfield are the first artists to bring original artwork directly to the FolkArtwork web store on both FolkArtwork.art/shop and directly on Instagram. I am very pleased to also add Reneesha Mccoy, Jordan Sullivan, Gabrielle K Brown, Christopher Bame, Max Kuhn, Ben Gardner and in 2024, Melody Jean Moulton, Dinah Hanson-Carrillo, Lindsay Carraway, Kathy Edwards Hayslett and Lorena Eliasen to the collective.
After four years of running this account, sharing daily art by great outsider and self-taught artists who are no longer with us, I am thrilled to share this space with current artists to assist in their artistic journey and bring their artwork to the masses and maybe to a home near you.
I am excited to see FolkArtwork evolve and grow. It will continue to share daily outsider artwork by some of the greatest artists ever, pictures from travels across the country, visiting unknown and hidden art environments, and now offering original artwork for sale.
Every day you can find a brand new piece of folk, self-taught, outsider or visionary art from one of the leading museums, galleries, and collections from across the world. For even more art, follow @folkartwork on Instagram and be sure to subscribe to the “This Week in Outsider Art” newsletter on Substack for two opportunities a week to see even more art, views of my personal collection, finds of the week and a list of must-see shows from across the country.
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