NinaJohnson

John Ollman has been involved in the commercial art world since 1970 when he became the director of the Janet Fleisher Gallery. In 1997 he became full owner of the gallery, renaming it to Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. The gallery has shown a wide range of art under Ollman’s direction, including self-taught art, ethnographic art, and contemporary art. Ollman has been an active member of the arts communities in Philadelphia and Deer Isle, Maine, having served on the boards of Vox Populi, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, and the former Foundation for Self-taught American Artists (all in Philadelphia). He is currently on the board of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, and was formerly on the board of Opera House Arts, Stonington, Maine. He has curated exhibitions for multiple art institutions and co-authored various catalogs on the following artists: James Castle, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, William Edmondson, Joseph Yoakum, Frank Jones, Howard Finster, Tony Fitzpatrick, and Marcy Hermansader. Ollman taught art history for five years at the University of the Arts, and has lectured extensively on self-taught art at institutions including: Brown University, The American Folk Art Museum, The National Museum of American Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Albright College, University of the Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.