Erica Terman Quotations

Some are coming to the show specifically because of the subject matter. They're interested in issues pertaining to both art and mental illness and ways people can express themselves. So the qualifier is the attraction.

There's a danger of exploitation when you get the galleries and museums involved and it's being sensationalized. I don't feel that's what Arline is doing with this show at all. This population is isolated. They are outside the mainstream, but the whole point of this show is to create a bridge, which sort of flies in the face of the whole concept of outsider art.

A lot of people just stumble in and they're not aware of what they're looking at. When they find out, they're kind of surprised and say, 'Wow, this is really good.' The fact of the matter is a good portion of these artists went to art school. They're trained and it shows. There may an expectation that work won't be as good as your average gallery show because of the population producing it, but I think people are generally surprised and impressed.

These people are not able to work, and it's validating to have someone buy your work. A couple of the artists have aspirations to build themselves a studio to do more work, full- or part-time. The talent is there to do it.