Featuring sculpture, painting, and drawings by outsider artists working from the 1930s through today, the show aims to make connections among widely varying practices, perspectives and origins. Artists include self-taught California painter Esther Pearl Watson, Memphis sculptor Hawkins Bolden, and “Prophet” Royal Robertson from Louisiana, among others.

Akin also seeks to complement the major retrospective of sculptor Marisol, opening at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art on June 14, through thoughtful associations and kinship.

Complementary programs: 

Billy Tripp’s Art Environment: Mindfield

Saturday, June 14

Meet at Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland, at 11 am; we will return by 4 pm.

Join us on a field trip to Billy Tripp’s art environment, “Mindfield” nearby in Brownsville, TN. “Mindfield” is a continually growing and expanding outdoor sculpture that Tripp has been working on for many years. This afternoon trip is an opportunity to more fully experience the relationships within the Akinexhibition on view at Crosstown Arts. We will stop for lunch at Helen’s BBQ after visiting the site. Group transportation will be available for a small fee. More details to come; please direct any questions to info@crosstownarts.org

Screening of Make

Wednesday, June 25 at 6:30 pm

430 N. Cleveland

Free admission

The documentary Make, by Scott Ogden, is an intimate journey into the lives of four American self-taught artists: Prophet Royal Robertson, Hawkins Bolden, Judith Scott and Ike E. Morgan. All of these artists find their most powerful voice through art. Their interwoven stories bring together individuals whose worlds are as unique as their creations and explore why they are each consumed by their obsessive art making.

Image: Esther Pearl Watson, 2011, Courtesy of Webb Gallery