Journalist Roger Cardinal wrote a book titled “Outsider Art” in 1972, introducing the term to describe art that has an unfiltered, even unrefined quality. While Symonds wouldn’t consider herself an outsider artist due to receiving an art education from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, she said she became disillusioned with academic art and high-end commercial art. Establishing Shoe Bones was a way for Symonds to cultivate a welcoming community that is the antithesis of the strictness of formal art galleries.

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