There is a rambling, brambly park on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, full of scruffy, feral, enchanting sculptures.

In 1999 Lehigh University offered a course called “Raw Vision: Creativity and Ecstasy in the World of Shamans, Mystics and Outsider Artists.” It was based on the concepts of art as a means of personal expression, but it wasn’t an art class. It was taught by Professor Norman Girardot (now retired) from the Department of Religion Studies, and was a practical way for students to study the nature of spirituality and mysticism. Knowing a thing or two about shamans and mystics, Professor Girardot also happened to be an expert in outsider art.  

The students were tutored and mentored by the well-known outsider artist Mr. Imagination, and they collaborated with the Banana Factory (Bethlehem’s arts center) and even some local middle school kids. Together they formed a motley crew of outsider artists themselves, using concrete and found materials to build a hidden world of their collective “Raw Vision.”

The course was taught for eight sessions, each new group adding to the park’s collection. Some of the pieces were ephemeral, but many—including the Millennium Folk Arch—have become fixtures in this remote corner of the campus. It may not have been called an “art class,” but it connected non-art students to their own inner “outsider artist.”

It’s officially mapped on the University campus as the “Stolfo Sculpture Garden” but most students will know it as the “Millennium Folk Arch and Art Enclave.”