Susan Baerwald, California - MEET THE COLLECTOR Series Part Forty Four

This week’s collector is learning the ropes of digital technology and running a Gallery online. Susan Baerwald is one half of ‘Just Folk’ in Summerland, California. After a successful career in network television, Susan set up the Gallery with friend Marcy Carsey and they have never looked back. Read on for more in part forty-four of my ‘Meet the Collector’ series.

L-R: Susan Baerwald and Marcy Carsey

1. When did your interest in the field of outsider/folk art begin?  
I was always a collector of quilts because I felt they were so exuberant and expressive. They were also mostly done by women. I started with simple patchwork quilts and graduated to Amish and Mennonite quilts because of their power and use of monochromatic color. Then I was totally knocked out by the quilts of Gee’s Bend and started researching Black women quilters of the south. Aside from quilts, I collected small boxes and other articles of traditional American Folk Art.  When I was a producer of movies and mini-series for television, I made a movie about a guy doing community service by working with adults with developmental disabilities. This was about 1990. I met a group in Los Angeles called L. A. Goal, and they became my advisors on the film. I went to their organization and saw some incredible art made by the members. From that point on, I became fascinated by the art of the developmentally disabled and started researching other groups of somewhat marginalized people, isolated and self-taught. That was my introduction to outsider art and I have remained fascinated by what I consider to be contemporary folk art.

2. When did you become a collector of this art?  How many pieces do you think are in your collection now? And do you exhibit any of it on the walls of your home or elsewhere?  
I started to collect the work of L.A. Goal artists in 1991 and definitely displayed each piece I bought in my home. I found out about an auction house in Buford, GA through some research on outsider art, and purchased quite a few pieces from them over the years, which are also displayed in my house. I attended the Outsider Art Fair in New York starting in the early 2000s. When we (Marcy Carsey and myself) opened our gallery in 2007, I started collecting for the gallery and learned more and more about different artists who created work not for the public, but for themselves. This fresh, original and unedited work fascinated me.

Inside ‘Just Folk’ Gallery

3. Can you tell us a bit about your background and that of Marcy Carsey?
Both Marcy and I came from the world of network television. I worked in longform, movies and miniseries, and Marcy worked in series. Both of us started at networks, me at NBC and Marcy at ABC television. She went on to produce some of the most successful comedy series ever done, including Cosby, Third Rock from the Sun, That 70s Show, Roseanne and many others. I went on to produce some miniseries and movies, most all very well received. We both come from the east coast, she from Massachusetts, and I from New York. We had very different backgrounds, but both ended up in the entertainment business and both interested in folk art because it made us both happy.

4. You set up a Gallery in June 2007 in California called ‘Just Folk’ – can you tell us more about this? And since 2017 it has just been a virtual Gallery instead, can you tell us about the need for this change?  
Marcy and I finished up our careers in television at about the same time. Many things were changing about the business, and we both felt it was time to walk away. We exercise and do yoga together several times a week, and we would talk about what our next chapters would be in our lives. With our shared interest in folk art, we somehow threw out the idea of opening a shop/gallery that featured this art. That was the start. We found a wonderful property in Summerland, CA, which is just south of Montecito, Santa Barbara where Marcy had a house. We were planning to convert the house to a shop, but ended up tearing it down and hiring a brilliant local architect to create a space for us that looked like a barn with a gallery space on the second floor, and a simple cottage where my husband and I would stay. We took a chance on Summerland and helped to upgrade the neighborhood with our building. People came to visit like a museum! But it became clearer and clearer that the art we featured was very high end, and the majority of people who passed through Summerland were looking for bargains and small antique collectives, where they could find things for very little money! It was very difficult to make a profit, and after ten years, we realized that we might have chosen a location not suited to the high-end material we featured. So we sold the space and decided to proceed online. This presented a steep learning curve for me/us, and it has been difficult to crack the online world, even though so many galleries have gone online since the pandemic.

George Widener, Reset, 2009, Ink on napkins and other paper.

5. What is it that draws your eye away from contemporary art to outsider/folk art? Or do you collect both?
I think it is so refreshing to experience the spontaneous creation of the work done by the self-taught artists. There is little or no exposure to traditional art history or “rules” to follow, no attempt to commercialize or compete. These artists basically create for themselves, not an audience. I don’t collect much modern or contemporary art, only the occasional piece that catches my eye (and that I can afford!) I’m also running out of wall space! Another great reason to open a gallery.

6. What style of work, if any, is of particular interest to you within this field? (for example is it embroidery, drawing, sculpture, and so on)  
I basically still am attracted to fabric, collage, quilts and sculpture rather than works on paper or canvas. But I have broadened my likes with the exposure to artists who paint and draw as well.

7. Would you say you had a favourite artist or piece of work within your collection? And why?  
I am totally in love with Bill Traylor. A descendant of slaves, he didn’t start drawing until the age of 85, and he left around 1,200 works that he created in three or four years. His works are expressive, simple, and so moving. We were lucky to acquire a collection of 28 of his pieces in 2009. Many have been sold, but one remains in my home and quite a few are still available. A recent film was done on his work and life, and the Smithsonian American Museum had a retrospective of his work in 2017. It’s nice when other people start to appreciate an artist you love.

Bill Traylor, Black Mule, circa 1939-1942, Poster paint on found cardboard.

8. Where would you say you buy most of your work from: a studio, art fairs, exhibitions, auctions, or direct from artists?  
A bit of all of the above. And a lot from dealers specializing in self-taught art.

9. Is there an exhibition in this field of art that you have felt has been particularly important? And why?
The Corcoran Gallery in Washington exhibited the first real comprehensive show of outsider art in 1982 and that was the seminal point for this art. The aforementioned Bill Traylor Show at the Smithsonian was wonderful. I was also completely knocked out by the Whitney Museum show of the Quilters of Gee’s Bend.

10. Are there any people within this field that you feel have been particularly important to pave the way for where the field is at now?
Definitely. Roger Ricco and Frank Maresca were pioneers. Their books American Primitive and American Vernacular have become the bibles of self-taught and vernacular art. The American Folk Art Museum in New York has featured outsider and self-taught art, along with more traditional folk art and had many influential shows featuring outsider artists. Intuit in Chicago is also a wonderful organization that features self-Taught art and artists

Elijah Pierce, Couple Dancing, 1972, Carved wood and hand painted.

11. A conflicted term at present, but can you tell us about your opinion of the term outsider art, how you feel about it and if there are any other words that you think we should be using instead?  
I prefer the term Self-Taught Art because it is more inclusive. I understand that outsider art originally identified the work as being outside the mainstream, created by people who were isolated due to mental illness, incarceration, geographical remoteness and not exposed to traditional art schooling. But now that these artists are recognized for the brilliance of their work, I think they deserve to be called just artists and not marginalized by being called an outsider. Other terms used include vernacular, primitive, raw (from the French Art Brut), but I prefer Self-Taught.

12. What’s next for you? And are you looking to continue to add works to your collection – what sort of things?
It’s all up in the air for the moment! Some of our clients continue to buy from our website, but I would like to learn to market the work more aggressively. I miss discovering and buying new works!

13. Is there anything else you would like to add?  
It was fascinating to come upon a whole new field in midlife and learning about the artists and their work has really given me a great deal of joy.

Miles Carpenter, Adam and Eve with Satan.