Almost everyone in the Folk Art Community knows the name of
Missionary Mary Proctor.
She experienced a tragedy in the 1994, when her grandmother
and two other family members died in a house fire. Mary was extremely close to her grandmother
and shared with me one time that “If you don’t marry Tyrone, I WILL!” J She took her
grandmothers advice and married a great man of God.
Mary was not an artist early on….she operated a flea market
on some property she owned in Tallahassee. She was grieving her loss when she
had that MOMENT in her life, when sitting under a tree, a voice urged her to
paint. She was reluctant because she had
never painted before. She painted her heart out and set it up in the flea
market…it got attention…and once day A New York gallery owned happed by and the
rest is as they say..HISTORY!
Mary has been exhibited everywhere. She is in a lot of
galleries and is a Smithsonian artist who’s works we on display for several
months at the Smithsonian.
I met her at Finster Fest one year. I started collecting her artwork and she
would always home something patriotic for me. One time she asked me if I was an
artist and I told her I was not but my husband George was. She encouraged me to
open a gallery and represent artists since my background was in sales and
promotions. She became my 1st folk artist and encouraged me to do
Folk Fest in Atlanta with George’s works.
Mary and I have been friends since that early meeting and I
am so thankful for her. She is
compulsive; and by that I mean SHE HAS TO PAINT! She can sure put it out. She reminds my of George because he has that
same drive.
Folk art makes great gifts for Christmas….thanks for
supporting our artists!
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