Artists without formal training, who learned from family, community, and personal journeys, have long been a presence in American art. But it was not until the 1980s, with the help of trailblazing advocates, that the collective force of their creative vision and presence irrevocably turned the tide in the mainstream art world. Through drawings, paintings, and sculptures that span the narrative to the abstract, the artworks in We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection convey the humanistic power of art and allow us to see the world through the lens of another.

We Are Made of Stories traces the rise of self-taught artists in the twentieth century and examines how, despite wide-ranging societal, racial, and gender-based obstacles, their creativity and bold self-definition became major forces in American art. The exhibition showcases forty-three artists, including James Castle, Thornton Dial Sr., William Edmondson, Howard Finster, Bessie Harvey, Sister Gertrude Morgan, the Philadelphia Wireman, Nellie Mae Rowe, Judith Scott, Bill Traylor, and others, whose work was admired and collected by Margaret Z. Robson (1932–2014). Margaret valued their artworks and personal stories, believing both offered a truer, more complete portrait of our nation's makers and redefined who could be an artist in America.

Following his mother’s lead, Douglas O. Robson continues to collect the work of self-taught artists and to support an inclusive vision of art: in 2016, he donated ninety-three works from the Margaret Z. Robson Collection to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibition features this original gift, along with thirty-three artworks he has promised to SAAM in 2022.

We Are Made of Stories continues SAAM’s decades long advocacy for a diverse populist and uniquely American voice within the context of what is traditionally considered great art. The exhibition is organized by Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.