For the 2022 edition of the Outsider Art Fair Shelter presents a two-artist booth featuring Nicole Appel and Charles Simmons.
Nicole Appel (b. 1990) lives in Queens and works at Brooklyn’s LAND Studio and Gallery, which she joined in 2016. Previously, Appel was a member of Manhattan’s Pure Vision Arts studio program, where she began creating her specialized “Patchwork Portraits,” each an homage to an important individual or experience in her life. Appel’s relationships with her subjects and her unique perspective are reflected in the highly saturated compositions that capture these significant memories. Her drawings have become highly collected, and offer a unique take on the representation of the inner life and lived experience of the artist and the people she features.
Self-taught African-American artist Charles Simmons (1939-2020) resided in North Carolina throughout his life. One of eleven children, Simmons left school after ninth grade and worked with his family to grow crop tobacco; he was later employed by the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company for 35 years.
Simmons’ early creative endeavors were wood sculptures, typically in the form of dolls given as gifts. After retirement, he became a dedicated artist, painting and carving a large number of works, many of which relate to his life experience and surroundings.
A friend and neighbor of artist Raymond Coins, the two men often worked alongside each other; as Simmons’ motor functions declined with age he adopted Coins’ preferred medium of stone for his sculptural work.

Shelter Gallery - D3

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