Purpose
You were made for a purpose. Go. Serve. Heal, and be healed, in grace and in peace.
From “Learning to be Healed”, a speech given by Mary Fisher
Birmingham, AL - May 17, 2015
The Rub
“I never want to say that I love art more than I love anything else, because it isn’t true. I love my children, and I would give up my art for them. But were I forced to make that trade, my sons would have a hollow, mute mother. When I found art, I found my voice. By allowing my soul to speak through my art, I am constantly learning who I am. Of all life’s discoveries, this is among the most precious: to know myself.
And when I dare to show you my art, you discover who I am, too.
As Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “Ah, there’s the rub!” Seeing my art delights me with new discoveries; showing my art terrifies me with new risks. To make the art, I must be creative; to show you the art, I must be vulnerable.
Should you drop by my studio someday, you would be warmly welcomed. But here’s the unwritten rule: If you do not like what you see, be civil. My art is my soul’s offspring, my heart’s child. Showing it to you is like holding out my naked newborn for your inspection. You do not need to buy my art, any more than you need to adopt my child. But you may not tell me I have an ugly baby.”
From the book “Messenger: A Self Portrait”Mary Fisher 2012
“Bassari” by Mary Fisher — 50”x35” — Digital Imagery and intaglio type on cotton — 2003
My Art, My Voice
“I don’t know what I’ve done for the world of art, but I know what art has done for me. It has given me a voice with which I can speak about the unspeakable – that which is too mean for language, and that which is too glorious for words. Art, I once said, “…has to do with the entire human experience, the power of hormones as well as headaches, whatever makes me giggle and whatever makes me weep. It is my soul’s response to life as I experience it…and it has always been this way for artists: the young woman in the death camp who sketched butterflies, the young man who uses graffiti and rap to show his rage at injustices, the great Mahalia Jackson starting into ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ when she’d been banned for her color….””
From “An Unlicensed Life” — Speech given by Mary Fisher — Danbury, CT — August 26, 2015