Twenty-two years with the American Visionary Art Museum

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Holy H20: Fluid Universe

Oct. 2, 2004 - Sep. 4, 2005
Zanvyl A. Krieger Main Building

Image Gallery "The Exile' by Carlos Zapata 2003 wood, metal and paint Courtesy of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre press to zoom "woman in white bathing suit" by Jake McCord paint on wood 1988 Courtesy of America Oh Yes press to zoom press to zoom "Dedicated to Coney Island" by Tom Duncan 1983-2004 mixed media Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York press to zoom Installation by Nancy Josephson press to zoom "Doomed Dead" by Steve Shepard 2000 colored pencil on board Courtesy of America Oh Yes press to zoom 1/1

About the Exhibition "The simple truth known to the brokenhearted, the mystic, and the physicist: what we think solid is not. What most of us believe constitutes the "real" material world - the stuff we can reach out, touch, hold, buy, and see - physicists all agree is actually not solid at all. In fact, what appears "solid" or material in our world is really 99.999999999999 percent empty space made "solid" by a miniscule fraction of matter that may not even be matter but wavelets of energy. Light is a particle that, when we try and measure it by passing it through a narrow opening, behaves just like an ocean wave passing through a narrow harbor. Once through the slender opening, light wave and water wave fan out, each forming a crescent pattern. A far more accurate characterization of our universe would be ‘fluid’….” - These words,

written by Rebecca Hoffberger, inspired Maya Angelou to call to say how personally meaningful they were to her. From fantastical mermaids to environmental concerns, all things water were artfully explored in a year that began with the Indonesian Tsunami and ended with Katrina, the storm that inundated New Orleans.

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More past exhibitions
Oct. 12, 2024 – Aug. 31, 2025

Good Sports: The Wisdom & Fun of Fair Play
Oct. 8, 2022 - Sep. 3, 2023

ABUNDANCE: Too Much, Too Little, Just Right
Oct. 7, 2023 - Sep. 1, 2024

If You Build It, They Will Come
Nov. 3, 2021 - Nov. 21, 2021

John Oliver's Last Week Tonight’s Gallery for Cultural Enrichment
Jul. 2, 2023 - Jun. 30, 2025

The Secret Within: The Art of Judith Scott
Oct. 9, 2021 - Sep. 4, 2022

Healing and the Art of Compassion (and the Lack Thereof!)

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October 20, 2004: Headlines: COS - Solomon Islands: Art: Painting: Reuters: Matt Sesow became a computer programer, took up painting as a way to meet people and did a stint in the Solomon Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Solomon Islands: Special Report: Artist and Solomon Islands RPCV Matt Sesow: October 20, 2004: Headlines: COS - Solomon Islands: Art: Painting: Reuters: Matt Sesow became a computer programer, took up painting as a way to meet people and did a stint in the Solomon Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-21-111.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.21.111) on Saturday, November 06, 2004 - 2:35 pm: Edit Post Matt Sesow became a computer programer, took up painting as a way to meet people and did a stint in the Solomon Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Matt Sesow became a computer programer, took up painting as a way to meet people and did a stint in the Solomon Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer.

'Visionary' Artists Bring Personal Struggle to Work Wed Oct 20, 2004 09:26 AM ET By Cate Hescox BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Matt Sesow has taken a winding path toward becoming an artist. When he was 8, his left arm was amputated after an airplane propeller struck him. He grew up, became a computer programer, took up painting as a way to meet people and did a stint in the Solomon Islands as a Peace Corps volunteer. But art soon developed into more than a pastime; his paintings became a way of dealing with his childhood trauma and he began working on his art full time.

Sesow didn't have any formal art training, but his work is gaining recognition in the small but growing world of socalled visionary art. The genre -- sometimes called outsider art, art brut or contemporary folk art -- groups works by self-trained artists who deal with very personal issues, often their own disabilities or emotional problems. Two of Sesow's paintings are part of a new exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) in Baltimore, which was founded in 1995 and is the first U.S. museum dedicated to visionary art.

Through his art, Sesow worked through the emotional knots created by his childhood accident.

AVAM founder and Director Rebecca Hoffberger was working for the department of psychiatry at a local hospital and got the idea for the museum in 1983.

"I really wanted a place that was structured toward (people) who appreciate and value the great creativity," Hoffberger said.

Dedicated by an act of Congress, the museum was funded primarily by her husband, LeRoy Hoffberger, from a wealthy Baltimore family, Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop cosmetics firm, and Zanvyl Krieger, a lawyer and sports entrepreneur.

After nine years, AVAM is growing and next month opens an addition that doubles its exhibit space and adds classrooms and workshops.

'FLUID UNIVERSE' The museum's latest exhibit, "Holy H2O: Fluid Universe" explores all aspects of water and runs until September 2005. Along with Sesow's work, there are over 150 different works by 40 different artists. They include: - A huge kinetic sculpture of Coney Island, a historic amusement park located in New York, by Tom Duncan, who began making art when he was 4-years-old after his aunt gave him his first clay set.

- A floor-to-ceiling aquarium made of fish from mostly recycled beer bottle caps by Mr. Imagination (Gregory Womack), who describes himself as a collector of cast off objects.

- A 7-foot sculpture and altar room, which contains over 100 pounds of beads, glitter and sequins dedicated to "La Siren," a mermaid goddess by Nancy Josephson. Her work is inspired by her visits to Haiti and her spiritual journey of becoming a Voodoo priestess.

John Maizels, editor of Raw Vision Magazine, said visionary art is generally self-taught art that exposes the artist's inner depths.

Some might think of visionary art as folk art. But while folk art is also self taught, Hoffberger said, it differs by being "learned at the knee" and passed from generation to generation.

Visionary art has influenced other art genres, especially contemporary art, but there are differences, Maizels said. "Contemporary art is very foreboding and the impact of visionary art is immediate," he said Sesow's paintings communicate the emotional power of his healing. One of his works in the AVAM exhibit, titled "Out of Water," depicts in loose, abstracted brush strokes and bright colors a scuba diver emerging from water. On his goggles is a line with three crosses that Sesow uses to symbolize the trauma of his childhood accident. For years after his hand was amputated Sesow wore prosthetics, but about a year after he started painting, he gained confidence and stopped wearing his artificial hand.

Sesow feels freed now that he doesn't have to try to be and look like something he isn't. "At first it was a difficult decision," Sesow said. "But after taking the 'electric hand' off for good, some great things happened. I noticed people actually stared less at me. It was as if the stiff, sometimes green hand had caused more questions and attention to my disability than not wearing it." © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL: Your vote makes a difference Make a difference on November 2 - Vote. Then take our RPCV exit poll. See how RPCV's are voting and take a look at the RPCV voter demographic. Finally leave a message on why you voted for John Kerry or for George Bush. Previous poll results here.

Kerry reaches out to Returned Volunteers The Kerry campaign wants the RPCV vote. Read our interview with Dave Magnani, Massachusetts State Senator and Founder of "RPCVs for Kerry," and his answers to our questions about Kerry's plan to triple the size of the Peace Corps, should the next PC Director be an RPCV, and Safety and Security issues. Then read the "RPCVs for Kerry" statement of support and statements by Dr. Robert Pastor, Ambassador Parker Borg, and Paul Oostburg Sanz made at the "RPCVs for Kerry" Press Conference.

RPCV Carl Pope says the key to winning this election is not swaying undecided voters, but persuading those already willing to vote for your candidate to actually go to the polls. Take our poll and tell us what you are doing to support your candidate.

Finally read our wrap-up of the eight RPCVs in Senate and House races around the country and where the candidates are in their races.

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before.

Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

Read the stories and leave your comments.

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the

copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Reuters This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Solomon Islands; Art; Painting PCOL14475 29 .

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May 27-June 4, 2017. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free-$15.95. 410-244-1900. Opening Memorial Day weekend, this eclectic art exhibit

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Shock and Awe Hits the American Visionary Art Museum Matt Sesow’s Solo Exhibit at AVAM Explores An Artist’s Experience with Tragedy and Loss By Brendan L. Smith · BmoreArt · June 20, 2016 The long, improbable journey that led self-taught D.C. artist Matt Sesow to his first solo museum exhibition began when he was 8 years old, playing on a rural grassy air strip beneath a darkening sky in the flatlands of Nebraska. While playing a game called Spud with other children, Sesow threw a ball high in the air and reached upward to catch it while a small plane swooped silently toward the earth behind him, practicing a manual landing with its engine turned off. The 19-year-old novice pilot didn’t notice Sesow, and his upstretched left arm was instantly severed above the elbow by the plane’s propeller.

The local newspaper article about the accident downplays its magnitude, stating that Sesow was listed in fair condition at a nearby hospital. He underwent several painful surgeries but his left hand couldn’t be reattached, and his arm ends at his left elbow. Decades later, after running track and playing high-school football, after winning a Mensa scholarship and being crowned homecoming king at the University of Tulsa, and after moving to D.C. to work as an IBM software engineer, Sesow tried painting on a lark to impress a woman at a party in 1994. Since then, he has ditched the IBM job to create art fulltime, and his stark, brutal style has attracted a wide audience, leading to exhibitions across the United States and Europe. His current solo exhibition called “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe” features more than 150 paintings in the American Visionary Art Museum’s third-floor gallery.

“This is probably the hardest show I’ve ever prepared for. I wanted it to be right,” Sesow told BmoreArt at a museum reception on June 5. “I’m really honored to be here.”

Fallen Soldiers (Iraq War 2003)

Sesow has funneled much of his grief and anger over his traumatic accident into his work. His bug-eyed animals and distorted human figures, often displaying large toothy grins or severed limbs, seem to revel in the grotesque, but a closer look reveals a shy vulnerability and sly sense of humor. The vagaries of life in this workaday world are often beset with tragedy but also by triumphs, both of the body and spirit.

Curated by AVAM founder and director Rebecca Hoffberger, Sesow’s exhibition features work of both a personal and political persuasion, challenging the jingoism of U.S. foreign policy with 100 small portraits of soldiers killed during the Iraq War. Sesow’s work, which invites comparisons to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francis Bacon, features totem-like imagery with recurring themes.

On a column in the gallery, Sesow explains the icons which repeatedly appear in his work as fully formed figures or small chalkboard-like drawings floating in the periphery. Not surprisingly, an airplane represents evil as “THE GREAT AMPUTATOR,” both from Sesow’s personal history but also as bombers raining violence from the skies. A bottle with three X’s is “the source of inspiration but also maybe a place to pain.” A large scar represents one of his many

surgeries, while a bunny reveals his gentle nature. A skeletal man wearing a top hat with a dollar sign has money on his mind and is “often the gallery manager.”

Although he works with galleries, Sesow sells much of his artwork directly to buyers through social media and visits to the tiny condo he converted into a studio by ripping out the oven and dishwasher, building a loft for his bed to make room for more canvases. He splits his time there and at the condominium/studio of his wife Dana Ellyn, a fellow artist with whom he often collaborates with in joint exhibitions.

Two Halves of “Two Sides to Every Story”

One of Sesow’s most compelling works created for the AVAM show hangs on wires between two pillars, revealing paintings on both sides of the canvas. Called “Two Sides to Every Story,” one side features an angel pointing skyward and pulling the hand of a frightened, naked boy with a severed hand, offering the comfort of death over the struggles of life. A small plane floats in the sky overhead while a wind sock flutters in the distance. On the other side of the canvas, Sesow’s life unfolds in 56 vignettes representing both monumental and trivial chapters. The saga starts with an angry, drooling man crouched in front of a computer and ends with a less angry man painting a self-portrait. “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe” will be on display at the American Visionary Art Museum until June 4, 2017. Brendan L. Smith is a freelance journalist, mixed-media artist, and father of two rambunctious boys in Washington, D.C.

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Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe

May 27, 2016 - May 28, 2017
3rd floor gallery, Zanvyl A. Krieger Main Building

Image Gallery "Identical Twins" by Matt Sesow 2016. Oil and acrylic on canvas. Gift of the artist. press to zoom "A Choice" by Matt Sesow 2016. Oil on canvas. Gift of the artist. press to zoom "Guardian Angel" by Matt Sesow 2016. Acrylic and oil on canvas. Gift of the artist. press to zoom press to zoom press to zoom press to zoom 1/1

About the Exhibition "I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape." –Charles Dickens AVAM is thrilled to announce an all-new original art exhibition, MATT SESOW: Shock and Awe. Washington, D.C.based self-taught artist Matt Sesow's "raw, visceral, good to the bone" paintings will be displayed in the museum's third floor gallery of its Zanvyl A. Krieger Main Building beginning Memorial Day Weekend 2016 (Friday, May 27, 2016) and remain on view thru May 28, 2017. Among the original 150 plus works on display, visitors will witness Sesow's salute to the first 100 American soldiers killed in the Iraq War, his fantastical depictions of animals and birds, personalized tributes to great humanitarians, his own autobiographical paintings, and an illustrated "Key" to understanding the artist's repeated singular language icons. Curated by museum Founder and Director, Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, this will be the first exclusive showing of Sesow's work at AVAM.

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Cheers to 30 Years! AVAM’s Birthday Bash | AVAM Sat, Nov 22 |American Visionary Art Museum Cheers to 30 Years! AVAM’s Birthday Bash Time & Location Nov 22, 2025, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy, Baltimore, MD 21230, USA About the Event This November, we’re celebrating 30 years of visionary art, bright ideas, and unforgettable moments. From the Pet Parade to the Kinetic Sculpture Race to our unique exhibitions, we want you to be part of our ongoing AVAM story, honoring our past and toasting our future!

Join us for a full day of shiny happy visionary fun: guided tours, art-making, birthday cake, artist meetand-greets and other quirky surprises, offering amusement for all ages. All featured programs are free with museum admission—purchase your tickets now or become a member to get in for free! RSVP today.

- All day | Scavenger Hunt & Fifi photo ops!

- 10 AM-12 PM | Blinged-Out Birthday Hat Workshop & Face painting - 10:30 AM - 12 PM | Meet the Artist: Judy Tallwing