8. Madge Gill
When the artist Madge Gill was nineteen and before her marriage, she lived with an aunt, who introduced her Spiritualism. Gill’s discovery of drawing was a direct result of attempts to contact her daughter and one of her sons, who had died during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The artist maintained that she was guided by a spirit she called Myrninerest, and would often sign works in that name. Gill’s oeuvre ranges from postcards, produced after all-night sittings, to drawings covering immense rolls of calico, which she finished incrementally, earlier parts of the drawing becoming hidden as the fabric was rolled to reveal a new blank surface. At times Gill exhibited work at amateur art exhibitions in the East End of London, but rarely sold her creations, as the artist insisted that the real artist was her spirit guide. More a case of ‘other-sider’ art than outsider!