BIOGRAPHY
Gayleen Aiken was born in 1934 in Barre, Vermont. She began her artistic career as a young child and continued throughout her life until her death in 2005. Gayleen Aiken’s work has been exhibited at Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY; Horton Gallery, New York, NY; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Boston MA; Aqua Art Fair Miami Beach, Miami, FL; Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY; Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT; Vermont Granite Museum, Barre, VT; American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. Her work is in the permanent collections of museums such as The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and The American Folk Art Museum.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Gayleen Aiken, T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT.
2020
Gayleen Aiken: Interiors, Curated by Laurie Simmons, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY
2016
Gayleen Aiken’s Raimbilli Cousins, The A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, NC.
The Curious Cousins of Vermont Outsider Artist Gayleen Aiken, Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, Middlebury, VT.
2013
Cousins, Quarries and a Nickelodeon, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
2011
Gayleen Aiken, Grass Roots Art and Community Effort, Hardwick, VT.
2007
Our Yard in the Future: The Art of Gayleen Aiken, Horton Gallery, New York, NY
2001
The Granite Industry, Vermont Granite Museum, Barre, VT.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Visionary New England, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Boston MA
2019
Works on Paper: A Decade of Collecting, Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
2018
Magic and Mystery: Works by Gayleen Aiken and Duane Michals, Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
2016
Amazing GRACE, Amy E. Tarrant Gallery, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington, VT
2013
More Like You Than Not, Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
2006
Gayleen Aiken, Ed Blackburn, Gina Dawson, Peter Gallo, Osuka Oshawa, and Alexa Stamatiou, Aqua Art
Fair Miama Beach, Miami, FL
2002
Works by Merrill Densmore and Gayleen Aiken, Cooper Union, New York, NY.
RESIDENCES, AWARDS & GRANTS
Fellowship Recipient, Vermont Arts Council, Montpelier, VT
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art, Williamsburg, VA
The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY
American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
Grass Roots Art and Community Effort, Hardwick, VT
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA
The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2020
Bordone, Simona. “The imaginative and caustic interiors of Gayleen Aiken in a virtual exhibition”, Domus, November 3.
Adams, Lucas. "‘The Way It Should Have Been’: Gayleen Aiken’s SelfMade Vermont, The New York Review, October 28.
Rexer, Lyle. “Gayleen Aiken: Interiors”, The Brooklyn Rail, October.
”Visionary New England Opens at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum”, Artfix Daily, February 10.
2016
Minichiello, Patricia. “Gayleen Aiken: Folk artist’s work lives on in home state”, Rutland Herald, March 17.
2019
”New look at art and history at Bennington Museum”, Bennington Banner, Januray 30.
2013
Andrew Roiter. “The intersection between disability and the arts”, Bennington Banner, April 03.
Johnson, Ken. “Gayleen Aiken: ‘Cousins, Quarries and a Nickelodeon’”, The New York Times, February 14.
Smith, Roberta. “Felling Right at Home on the Fringe”, The New York Times, January 31.
2007
McAdams, Shane. “Our Yard in the Future: The Art of Gayleen Aiken SUNDAY January 11 - February 4,
2007”, The Brooklyn Rail, February.
2005
Long, Tom. “Gayleen Aiken, artist called Vermont’s ‘Grandma Moses’”, Boston Globe, April 3.
“Gayleen Aiken, 71, folk artist who captured a national audience”, Chicago Tribune, April 3.
2004
Wertkin, Gerard C, Lee Kogan, et al. Encyclopedia of American folk art, New York, NY: Routledge.
1997
Aiken, Gayleen, and Rachel Klein. Moonlight and Music: The Enchanted World of Gayleen Aiken, New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams.
FILMS
1985
Gayleen, directed by Jay Craven, documentary.