LJ Idol - Week 10 - Sticks and Stones
A folk artist from northern Florida, Missionary Mary Proctor was raise by her grandmother. They were very close until Mary's grandmother, aunt, and uncle died in a house fire in the mid-1990s, unable to get the doors open. In response, Mary Proctor fasted, trying to find meaning to her terrible loss. On the 13th day of her fast, Mary felt lead by God to paint a woman on a door. Thus started her career in folk art. Proctor paints on doors and panels with mixed media and found objects. The majority of her work has a moral, a scripture, or a life lesson from her grandmother as the inspiration.
I will never forget the moment I first laid eyes on artwork by Missionary Mary Proctor in the fall of 2007.
Though there were about 6-10 pieces of hers in the art exhibit at my college, one has burned itself into my memory. I'm glad for this, since I can't find a record of this piece anywhere. Entitled "Sticks and Stones" the painting was on a panel, about five feet high and two feet across. A stylized young black girl was on a background of white with small stones and sticks, and words and phrases, built from cut out letters and words, were thrown about the girl. The words and phrases were the only ones that touched the girl, seemingly bruising in some places, or cutting through clothes in others.
We had come to the art gallery to be inspired to write. My Advanced Writer's Workshop class had come for the hour to study and be inspired to write anything from a short story to a poem. I spent the hour staring at that painting, contemplating words and their usage. This is the poem was running through my head, begging me to write it down.
"Untitled" - Sticks and Stones
What harm it be
That I may say
A Word that hurts you
deep inside.
A stone
cast in the fray.
Missionary Mary Proctor has had many things to say about the tongue and it's use. This life lesson is one that her grandmother drilled into her at a young age, and she has never forgotten. The following quotation, from an interview she gave in 2005, is one that drives home the lesson to me.
"I'll tell you something. I've got a story that goes, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,' but let me tell you the craziest thing that happens is that you find that words will kill you and destroy you. The tongue. The tongue's the most destructive thing on our body. The tongue. More than the brain. The tongue. We can say something to each other that can tear each other... that can kill each other. We can ‘think’ what's bad, but saying something is worse. You can walk past me and think something, and that's all will, but when you say it, then I know it for sure, and I hear it out of your mouth, and it sticks up in here"
I will never forget the moment I first laid eyes on artwork by Missionary Mary Proctor in the fall of 2007.
Though there were about 6-10 pieces of hers in the art exhibit at my college, one has burned itself into my memory. I'm glad for this, since I can't find a record of this piece anywhere. Entitled "Sticks and Stones" the painting was on a panel, about five feet high and two feet across. A stylized young black girl was on a background of white with small stones and sticks, and words and phrases, built from cut out letters and words, were thrown about the girl. The words and phrases were the only ones that touched the girl, seemingly bruising in some places, or cutting through clothes in others.
We had come to the art gallery to be inspired to write. My Advanced Writer's Workshop class had come for the hour to study and be inspired to write anything from a short story to a poem. I spent the hour staring at that painting, contemplating words and their usage. This is the poem was running through my head, begging me to write it down.
"Untitled" - Sticks and Stones
What harm it be
That I may say
A Word that hurts you
deep inside.
A stone
cast in the fray.
Missionary Mary Proctor has had many things to say about the tongue and it's use. This life lesson is one that her grandmother drilled into her at a young age, and she has never forgotten. The following quotation, from an interview she gave in 2005, is one that drives home the lesson to me.
"I'll tell you something. I've got a story that goes, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,' but let me tell you the craziest thing that happens is that you find that words will kill you and destroy you. The tongue. The tongue's the most destructive thing on our body. The tongue. More than the brain. The tongue. We can say something to each other that can tear each other... that can kill each other. We can ‘think’ what's bad, but saying something is worse. You can walk past me and think something, and that's all will, but when you say it, then I know it for sure, and I hear it out of your mouth, and it sticks up in here"