Year Opened: 1989
Country: United States
Artists whose works are featured in this museum near Federal Hill in Baltimore, Maryland, are self-taught and deeply intuitive, often working with found materials like gum wrappers and tin cans. Most of the artists here lacked formal training, so the museum has a delightfully homemade feel; you might even be inspired to start creating an artwork in your basement when you get home.
In the permanent collection, you’ll see works by artists as well-known as the Rev. Howard Finster, an outsider whose work graced the covers of albums by R.E.M. and the Talking Heads. But the real delight is viewing a piece by a little-known artist that you find beautiful, comic, haunting or terrifying, sometimes all at once.
Enjoy the chance to marvel at the spirit that drives artists to create, often without any sort of acknowledgement or praise.
