ATHENS, Ga. — Stepping into "Amazing Grace: Self-Taught Artists From the Mullis Collection," a visitor is greeted by a vivid oil painting rife with the visionary, spiritual themes that the exhibition's name suggests.

In "Ezekiel Visions #2 (Chapter 3:11-Chariot Over Israel)," the late Myrtice West renders a host of angels, some with the heads of lions and eagles, floating below a rainbow that frames a bearded, crowned God on his throne.

With other pieces — which include a sandstone carving of the Last Supper, angels painted on wood, paper, and corrugated tin, and a Magic-Markered warning that "Hell is a hell of a place" — the presence of spiritual material in the world of self-taught art is front and center in the show, on display through January at the Georgia Museum of Art.

But the exhibit by 60 of the nation's best-known self-taught artists also devotes space to other topics — from football icon Bear Bryant and singer Dolly Parton in one section to musings on lynching, prison and the media in another.

Organizers say the exhibit is designed to show the broad range of topics addressed by artists working outside the mainstream — and to explore a dual meaning of the word "grace."

"Instead of just a reference to religion, it's the sense of grace people acquire from doing that kind of work — and from viewing it," said Carl Mullis, an Atlanta attorney whose collection is the source for the show. "I get a sense of grace just looking at these pieces. It calms me down, or makes me feel good, or makes me reflective."

Paul Manoguerra, curator of American art at the Georgia Museum, said that because many unschooled artists — particularly those in the South — work heavily in religious subject matter, some people automatically link the two.

But "Amazing Grace" is designed to show a wealth of other inspirations in the work of self-taught artists.

"We knew there had to be a spiritual element to this exhibit, but when we saw Carl's collection, we saw a range of a lot of other themes and we really wanted to highlight that," he said.

Some of the show's most striking work appears in a section devoted to social and political commentary.

In a pair of oil-painted wood carvings from 1988, Ned Cartledge tackles the social issues of the day in stark terms.

In "The Cupboard Is Bare," Cartledge, a cotton worker and salesman from Canon, Ga., carves three children watching as Uncle Sam holds open an empty cabinet marked "U.S. Treasury Cupboard."

"The children are saying, 'We need education, food and daycare,' " Cartledge, who died in 2002, wrote at the bottom of the carving.

"Uncle Sam replies, 'Sorry, children, the cupboard is bare. Uncle Ronnie spent it all on guns, some of which don't even work.' "

"Man In Prison," which depicts the face of a black man staring balefully at the viewer from behind the bars of a cell, is captioned with the words "I ain't gonna work for no lousy four bucks an hour" — a quote Cartledge attributes to a New Jersey inmate on why he became a drug dealer.

Art historians track widespread interest in self-taught art to a 1981 exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. Since the show, the art community has struggled for the right term to describe self-taught art. While "folk art" has become commonly used, many academics reserve the term for cultural traditions like basket weaving, pottery and furniture.

Other terms have included "art brut," "contemporary folk" and "outsider art" — a term Manoguerra rejects.

"The old thinking of them is that they are outsiders," Manoguerra said.

"What this exhibit does is show they are right in the heart of American culture."