Lois E. Swoboda | Folk Art: Outsider Art

Lois Swoboda











Lois Swoboda

Lois paints folk art signs and paintings in acrylic on wooden panels with an assortment of clever thoughts and quotes incorporated into the works.

The Artemis Gallery carries a large amount of Lois' work. Our stock is constantly changing and it is hard to put specific pieces online as they move out the door quite rapidly. However, if you can't get to Apalachicola to view her work in person, we can try to connect you with one of the phrases or quotes Lois uses frequently in her work or you can call us and we can work with you and try to find the right one for you.

A short and incomplete list of quotes and phrases Lois uses in her paintings:


  • “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde
  • Once again she decided not to decide. ?????
  • “How do I work? I grope.” Albert Einstein
  • “Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star…” e.e.cummings
  • “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well or poorly written, that is all.” Oscar Wilde
  • “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” Douglas Adams
  • “If I didn’t start painting, I would have raised chickens.” Grandma Moses
  • “You can say any fool thing to a dog and the dog will give you this look that says, 'My God, you’re right! I never thought of that!'” Dave Barry
  • Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. Cree Indian Proverb
  • “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Albert Einstein
  • “The city of cats and the city of men exist, one inside the other, but they are not the same city.” Italo Calvin
  • “The whole world is about three drinks behind.” Humphrey Bogart
  • “My candle burns at both end, it will not last the night, but ah, my friends and, oh, my foes, it makes a lovely light.” Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • “Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.” Alice Mae Brock
  • “People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately” Oscar Wilde
  • There are no athiests in foxholes is not an argument agaist athiests, it is an argument against foxholes.
  • “It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Lois also says: "I will consider other quotes but, if I can't visualise it, I can't paint it."



Click any thumbnail to view a larger version of the painting.

These and other pieces by Lois Swoboda can be viewed at the Artemis Gallery in Apalachicola.

Contact us at 850 653 2030 for information about these and more of this artist's work. If you have a favorite quote or a phrase you would like Lois to incorporate into a painting for you, let us know and we will see if Lois can work with your phrase.





127 Commerce Street
Apalachicola, Florida 32320
850 653 2030



More About Lois Swoboda

In Lois' own words...

"I was born on a dark and stormy night; well no actually I was born at about 3:40 p.m. and they had to go find my dad because he was digging a ditch at Fort Belvoir. I learned to read and learned to swim and then I went to college. I fell in love five times, or well one time really and then I moved to Apalachicola. I had some adventures and went back to school and learned all about bugs. I am a pacifist and an entomologist. Then I got a job flying in helicopters but I was homesick so I moved back to Apalachicola and now I have 3 dogs and 2 cats and my cat Cyril has a cat and I’m hoping to live happily ever after. Please buy a painting! My favorite foods are cherries, shrimp and artichokes. My hobby is thinking."
Dr. Lois E. Swoboda



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