by CHRISTINE REDFERN

The mainly self-taught, imaginative and committed artists working on the margins of the art scene, whose work is called art brut, outsider art or folk art, have a new champion. The mission of Montrealer Valérie Rousseau, director of the Société des arts indisciplinés (SAI), is to research, document and promote the significant Canadian artists working in this field.

Rousseau and two others founded the SAI in 1998, the first organization of its kind in Canada. “There is museum interest,” says Rousseau, “but the art is not very well known here like in the United States and Europe, where they have very active organizations. I think there is a lot of education needed so the public becomes aware of this.”

Rousseau is bringing to fruition an onslaught of exhibitions, conferences and publications in 2003. The yearlong parade of events starts with the enticingly titled Riding the Rainbow: New Dimensions in Spider Culture, featuring the work of Bill Anhang and curated by Rousseau. It opens Jan. 16 at the Saidye Bronfman Centre (5170 Côte Ste-Catherine). A few days later Chassé-croisé: art populaire et art indisciplinés, a touring exhibition co-curated by Rousseau (at the Château Dufresne all last summer), opens at the Musée de Bas-Saint-Laurent in Rivière-du-Loup. Part of this exhibition can be seen online now at www.sai.qc.ca.

It’s worth picking-up the next issue of London-based magazine Raw Vision to read Rousseau’s article Richard Greaves: the anarchitect and to see Greaves’s amazing constructions. Next fall, the SAI and the Quartier Éphémère present the work of Palmerino Sorgente and the “Grand Antonio” at the Darling Foundry (745 Ottawa). Coinciding with this exhibition will be a two-day international symposium. If all this is not enough, the big project the SAI has undertaken is to create a comprehensive database on Canadian outsider artists. “I really think that these artists have to be a part of art history,” Rousseau says. “If we don’t document the work, it won’t be a part of our heritage.” :