Mary L. Proctor was born on July 11, 1960 in Jefferson County, Florida. She quit school in the ninth grade. At eighteen she married her husband, Tyrone, and they raised four children. Mary had a junk shop called Noah's Ark for many years before turning her full attention to making art.
Mary's grandmother, who raised her, died in a house fire along with her aunt and uncle because they were unable to open the door. While grieving, Mary went to her backyard, sat under an old oak tree, drank only water and spent her days reading the Bible and meditating. On the thirteenth day of her fast, she had a vision of "blinding light, brighter than the sun." "It was different than any earthly light. It was shining just for me, surrounding me," she said. A voice told her to go to an outbuilding on her property, get a door, some paint and a brush. "I went and I got the door and the paint and the brush and didn't know what to do, and the voice told me to paint a lady."
After painting the doors, Mary applies three-dimensional objects drawn from her lifetime of collecting. She uses any found objects such as marbles, buttons, broken mirrors or dishes and glues them on with Liquid Nails, acrylic nail glue. By incorporating Bible scripture and life lessons, Mary sees herself as a missionary delivering her message through her artwork.
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