Art Outside of the Box

A well-lit room has art displayed on the walls and items displayed on a table which is covered by a blue tablecloth.

A drawing framed in a wooden frame displayed on a table covered by a blue tablecloth.

A flower-like shape created by seashells is displayed in a white box, on top of a table covered by a blue tablecloth.

A see-through plastic surface with a circle hole in it, within which there is frayed rope-like material.

A white box containing a painted coffee jar sits on top of a blue table covered with a blue tablecloth.

A woman looking through a box of artwork

Three people forming a triangle at an exhibition

The Open Museum is an ongoing project which takes kits containing objects from Glasgow Museums collections out into the community, as a catalyst for storytelling and creative activities. Art Outside of the Box is the first such handling kit to contain fine artworks and includes original art from the Art Extraordinary collection.

Art Extraordinary is a unique collection of Scottish outsider art collected by pioneering artist and art therapist Joyce Laing (1939-2022) and contains artwork produced by individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health and/or incarceration. Throughout Joyce’s career, she collected over a thousand works of art from hospital or prison spaces, as well as gifts from the people that she mentored or befriended. She believed in the transformative power of art as a tool for expression, communication, and well-being. Art Outside of the Box was co-created by experts with experience of mental ill-health and incarceration and contains artworks from outsider artists across Scotland, spanning the last century.

The accompanying textual and creative materials were produced by community partners and raise important questions regarding the lived experiences of mental ill-health, the power of art and creativity, and ethics. Art Outside of the Box is an opportunity to explore, discuss and be inspired by the artworks. A programme of workshops run by collaborators involved in creating the kit will accompany the exhibition.