John Foster is a graphic designer, writer, artist, and passionate collector/scholar of folk, self-taught and outsider art. John founded and was president of ENVISION Folk Art of Missouri from 1995 to 2005, a not-for-profit arts organization; he also served during that time as editor of Envision's Journal. He is on the Advisory Board of The Folk Art Society of America and was the 2004 recipient of their Award of Distinction.
John Foster organized and curated the exhibition "Accidental Mysteries" of vernacular photography which opened in 2005 at the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis and continues to travel throughout the United States, recently completing its fifth museum venue at the Peabody Essex Museum in Boston, MA. Over 77,000 visitors visited the exhibition during its seven-month display there. The exhibition has received numerous positive reviews and acclaim during its travel schedule, and Art & Antiques Magazine named the Foster collection of vernacular photography in its annual list as one of the Top 100 Art Collections in the United States (2005). John was invited to speaker on vernacular photography at the American Folk Art Museum's annual symposium Uncommon Artists: A Series of Cameo Talks during the Outsider Art Fair week in 2007. He is currently at work on a book on his collection of found photography.
John holds a BFA degree from East Carolina University and a MFA degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He is Director of Business Development at Werremeyer, a multi-disciplinary marketing and design firm in St. Louis, MO.
His website www.accidentalmysteries.com shows the progress of the exhibition and seeks to inform and educate visitors to the emerging scholarship of vernacular photography. John also writes a daily blog on art and culture: http://accidentalmysteries.blogspot.com/
