I love teaching from self-taught, folk, or “outsider” artists. They offer a glimpse into what it means to come from very different backgrounds relative to artists who go the traditional route. These artists are often excluded from the canon: BIPOC, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and others who perhaps did not have, or did not want, access to oftentimes violent and always very privileged echelons of traditional artist pipelines.

Ralph Fasanella was an immigrant who grew up in NYC in the early 20th century. He became revolutionized after volunteering to fight in the Spanish Civil war, and when he came back to the US aligned himself with labor, union, anti-war, and civil rights activist groups.