i watched this documentary last night about an artist that lived 2 1/2 hours away from here that i had never before heard of.
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article by the Drawing Society of Canada
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Alma Kate Rumball (1902–1980) was born in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada in 1902. Alma's career began as a school teacher, but that career lasted only four years. Although she had no formal art education, artistic talent ran through both sides of Alma's family; in fact her maternal grandfather, William Morgan, was one of five runners-up in the design of what became the Eiffel Tower. When she became ill as a young woman, she was sent to a tuberculosis sanatorium for four months. She was deeply affected by the experience. She became reclusive and unsociable and withdrew from life. Alma's automatic painting began in 1955, after she experienced a "vision" of Jesus, accompanied by a panther. She lived in Toronto for a while but after her vision during the 1950's she returned to Huntville. During this event she felt commanded by Jesus to draw and write in order to help "heal humanity". From that time, her hand began to move spontaneously across pages, in swirls and detailed formations, totally unlike anything she had consciously created before. She filled up every available space on paper provided for her by her family, claiming no ownership for the work. She took no credit for the process, saying, "I'm as excited to see what 'the hand' will do as anyone else is".

There was no trance state involved, she simply allowed the creations to come through her. She never claimed to understand the process, she simply marveled at the wonder of her gift. She devoted her lifetime to these drawings and writings. Her work is reminiscent of the theme of Carl Jung's Collective Unconscious as it is viewed. The famous Surrealist, Andre Breton, described the type of experience which Alma had as "pure psychic automatism". Michael Greenwood, curator of the York University Art Gallery , in Toronto where much of Alma's collection is housed said he had never seen such a case of automatism since William Blake. Many of Alma 's visionary revelations frightened Alma and she burned many of the drawings and writings. In 1963, Alma's nephew, Colin Oke, took some drawings to various Toronto galleries, but they were determined to be "too busy". By 1973, when Colin's wife, Wendy took them to the then thriving creative community on Markham Street in Toronto, the artistic climate was much more receptive to the modality of automatic drawing. Carmen Cereceda, assistant to the famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, was enthralled by the works and quickly became Wendy's mentor. Carmen was able to facilitate showings of the work through the Ontario College of Art & Design where she was a professor and connected Wendy to her active spiritual community. The drawings were shown to Kalu Rinpoche, the spiritual advisor to the Dalai Lama. He identified seven out of 20 pieces as Tibetan gods and deities, rendered in the appropriate positions and with distinguishing mantels and head dresses. There was a flurry of activity during the 1970's and 80's around interpreting the icons, symbols and foreign characters. Late in her life Alma had a stroke. She continued to create drawings, but they were less complex. In 1975, she ceased creating new pieces and worked only on touching up old ones. Alma died in 1980, at 78 years of age, never really understanding the source or intent of her incredible, spontaneous gift.