JJ Cromer

JJ Cromer (b. 1967) has spent most of his life in central Appalachia. He and his wife Mary currently live on a small farm in Pound, Virginia. They raise ducks and geese, and keep bees. A librarian by training, and self-taught as an artist, Cromer began drawing as an adult shortly after he and his wife were married in 1998. His wife Mary works for the Cheap Oakley Sunglasses Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, a small nonprofit in Whitesburg, Kentucky. She helps individuals and groups adversely affected by coal mining. Environmental and social issues are important to both Cromer and his wife.

In September 2013 a major show of outsider art at the Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, will feature his work.

Collections: 
High Museum of Art; The American Visionary Art Museum; Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art; and The Taubman Museum of Art.