Image: American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
The American Visionary Art Museum will present ‘The Visionary World of Mr. Imagination,’ a free virtual program examining the life and work of Gregory Warmack, the self-taught artist known as Mr. Imagination. The one-hour event is scheduled for September 17, 2026, from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, and will be hosted online rather than at the museum’s Baltimore location.
The program will feature Norman Girardot, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religion Studies at Lehigh University and a close personal friend of Warmack. According to the event description, Girardot will share stories about the artist’s creative development, from his Chicago roots to his international recognition. The discussion will focus on Warmack’s working methods, artistic evolution and the ideas he shared about the capacity of imagination to improve the world.
Warmack became known for transforming discarded materials into intricate sculptures and furniture. The museum’s description characterizes his practice as an act of finding beauty in what others regarded as “junk and trash.” His signature bottle-cap style is linked to a life-changing incident in 1978, which the program will examine as part of the account of how his artistic language developed.
The event will also trace Warmack’s movement from self-taught practice into major international settings. Its scheduled discussion includes installations associated with the 1996 Olympics and the Venice Biennale. The source material does not specify which Olympic installations or Biennale presentation will be discussed, but presents both as milestones in Warmack’s public career.
Warmack’s work is also represented in the American Visionary Art Museum’s exhibition ‘Esther and the Dream of One Loving Human Family,’ where his mixed-media work ‘Always Remember You Are the Child of a King’ is listed among the works on view. The exhibition, presented in the second-floor gallery of the museum’s Zanvyl A. Krieger Main Building, centers on Esther Krinitz’s Holocaust survival story and includes work and testimony connected to other histories of persecution and resilience. The gallery is scheduled to be closed from September 7 through October 9, 2026, although that closure does not affect the separate online program.
The American Visionary Art Museum, located at 800 Key Highway in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, presents exhibitions, educational resources and public programs focused on visionary and self-taught art. Its 2026 schedule also includes the exhibitions ‘The Strength to Be Joyful: Messages from Mary Proctor,’ on view through early March 2027, and ‘Flaunt: When Appearance Speaks,’ scheduled to open October 10, 2026. The Mr. Imagination program takes place before that exhibition opening and is listed as a virtual event. RSVP is required.
