December 24 2020     #196

Merry Christmas

from the Raw Vision team

Plastic bottle Christmas trees and decorations in Paul Hefti's yard environment (1985–2004). Photos: top left: Jon Humburg; top right: Lisa Stone; bottom (left & right): Jim Zanzi

Paul Hefti’s biography, what we know of it, is as spare as his garden was elaborate. He was a single man with a simple sweet personality. He worked for 45 years at the La Crosse Paper and Box Company and retired in 1981. His artistic consciousness seemed to have come into bloom in about 1985, when he began ornamenting his garden. 

In his light and airy creations plastic bottles coalesced into constellations, spinning wheels, whirligigs, splayed flowers and his centrepiece, a towering Christmas tree. His uncanny sense of colour seemed to knit these works together.

Text by Lisa Stone, from Raw Vision #51

Support Outsider Art organisations

2020 has been a very tough year, not least for outsider and folk artists. Here are some galleries and organisations which you can donate to or shop from to support the continuation of their wonderful work:

"Creative Growth Introduction"; video by John McNeil Studio, 2018