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Symposia & Lectures
12 May 2014

Self-Taught Genius: A Full-Day Symposuim

Thinkers from a variety of disciplines gathered to share perspectives on topics related to the themes of the exhibition Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. The exhibition posits an original premise that considers the changing implications of self-taught in the United States, from a deeply entrenched and widespread culture of self-education in the early national period to its usage today to describe artists working outside the art historical canon.

Keynote Lecture
ADAM GOPNIK

Moderator
ANDREI CODRESCU

Morning Session: American Origins & Originals
STACY C. HOLLANDER
Breaking the Rules of Art: Genius and the Emergence of the Self-Taught Artist

DARRIN M. MCMAHON
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Genius

WILLIAM D. MOORE
Limning Belief: Freemasons, Shakers, and Adventists

LYNETTE SPILLMAN
Freedom, Progress, and Diversity in American Identity Narratives

Afternoon Session: Alternative Paths
VALÉRIE ROUSSEAU
The Oblique Angle: When the Self-Taught Artist Shapes the World

CAELAN MYS
Coffee Cans, Cardboard, Clay, Concrete, and Chicken Bones—Constructions for the Kingdom: Exploring the Work of Eugene Von BruenchenheinALISSA QUART
Republic of Outsiders

DAN P. MCADAMS
The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By

 

Image: GIFT DRAWING: THE TREE OF LIGHT OR BLAZING TREE, Hannah Cohoon (1788-1864), Hancock, Massachusetts, 1845, ink, pencil, and gouache on paper, 16 x 20 7/8″, American Folk Art Museum, gift of Ralph Esmerian, 2013.1.3. Photo courtesy Sotheby’s, New York.

Gallery