Alma Rumball
(1902–)
(–1980)
Alma Rumball
1902–1980
Alma Rumball (1902–1980), born in Newholm, Ontario, Canada, is an artist and medium whose drawings she claimed were channelled through her from a higher power. Alma created over 5,000 drawings. The estate collection is held at the Art Gallery of York University.
Rumball’s intricate, layered drawings have strong spiritual and mediumistic undertones. Her practice was automatic in the sense that she did not make conscious decisions, rather it was “The Hand” that moved across the page making hundreds of complex drawings. Rumball is considered a key figure in Canadian outsider art, a term used to describe the practices of self-taught artists, who hold little connections to the mainstream art world or art institutions. The documentary film, The Alma Drawings, by filmmaker Jeremy Munce, features the mysterious story of Alma’s life and art. The film received the award for best direction – Short to Mid-Length, at the 2005 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Some selected exhibitions of Rumball’s are Flying High: Women Artists of Art Brut, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria (2019), Starry Stairs: Alma Rumball’s Atlantis, Art Gallery of Sudbury, Canada, (2016) and the exhibition and Biding Time: The Collection Strikes Back, Art Gallery of York University (2015).