Ginger Young Gallery celebrates the creative genius of folk, outsider, visionary, and self-taught artists from the Southeastern United States. Despite their lack of formal training, these artists have tapped into a powerful wellspring of creativity to render their worlds with passion, pathos, and immediacy. They work with wood, tin, stone, cardboard, housepaint, mud -- whatever materials are readily at hand or spark their imaginations -- to weave their visual narratives.

My collection includes over 800 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and assemblages by more than 65 artists. I also carry a selection of tramp art and anonymous art.

Ginger Young with Mose Tolliver in 1999

I grew up in Atlanta, and fondly remember my first visit to Howard Finster at Paradise Garden in 1978. The first work I ever bought was a cutout of his entitled "The Little Duck Woman", a piece which I still treasure today. From there, my collection grew quickly, as pilgrimages to the homes and environments of R.A. Miller, Reverend B.F. Perkins, Jimmie Lee Sudduth, Mose Tolliver, and many others became a delightful obsession. I was also very fortunate to spend many afternoons at Judith Alexander's gallery in the Buckhead section of Atlanta in the early 1980's, and often visited there with Nellie Mae Rowe, an extraordinary visionary talent who inspired me greatly.

I graduated from Harvard College in 1984, and received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1990. I began selling Southern self-taught art that same year, when my collection of works far exceeded my available wallspace. I ran my business out of my Capitol Hill townhouse in Washington, D.C., for the first five years. When my husband and I moved to Chapel Hill in 1994, we were thrilled to finally have enough space to exhibit works by many more of our favorite artists.

From the start, I have almost exclusively bought works directly from the artists; I work hard to develop and maintain strong trust and open lines of communication with the artists. The result for collectors is an unsurpassed selection of high-quality art at the best prices anywhere.

Ginger Young with Howard Finster in 1997

I run my gallery out of my home in Chapel Hill. I see collectors by appointment seven days a week (phone 919-932-6003). When out-of-towners drop by, I typically send them a half mile up the road to Allen and Son Restaurant, which serves the finest barbecue, hush puppies, and pecan pie North Carolina has to offer (phone 919-942-7576). I also lead them on a twenty minute journey to the home of famed chain saw artist Clyde Jones in the town of Bynum. This is a detour that never fails to amaze visitors, even when Clyde is not around to lead a tour through his incredible environment populated with hundreds of chain saw critters

In addition, I hold a weekend-long benefit for a local nonprofit organization at the gallery twice a year, in May and in December. These are very festive events; we have been fortunate to have artists Sarah Rakes, Mike Esslinger, Peter Loose, Brian Dowdall, and Clyde Jones join us for these weekends. And we have raised more than $ 16,000 for such organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Duke University Primate Center, Carolina Friends School, Triangle Land Conservancy, Durham Literacy Council, and Genesis Home. If you would like to receive a postcard with all the details about our next benefit, click here to email me with your postal address. This information is confidential and will not be shared with anyone.

You can also find me exhibiting at Folk Fest in Atlanta, held the third weekend of August every year. Please plan to join us for a great weekend packed with art! For more info about Folk Fest, please call (770) 932-1000.

I enjoy writing about this fascinating field of art, and have published articles and letters in Bible Review, Christianity and the Arts, Oxford American, Gallery Notes, and Folk Art Finder. Please click here to email me with your postal address if you would like to receive reprints of these articles. I am currently working on a project which explores the link between aging and creativity.

And please visit my home gallery if you find yourself in Chapel Hill, North Carolina! Just call first for an appointment: (919) 932-6003.

Ginger Young Gallery accepts checks, money orders, Visa, Mastercard, and cash. I guarantee all of my works. Any purchase that does not meet with complete satisfaction can be returned within two weeks for a full refund minus shipping costs.