On a Mission

This colorful and unique piece of outsider art is by African-American artist Mary L. Proctor (the term "outsider art" refers to self-taught artists who are outside of the mainstream art world or institutions). Born in 1960 in Florida, Proctor worked in nursing, as a daycare operator, and was the owner of a shop selling odds and ends she had collected. She did not begin painting until 1995, after her grandmother, an aunt, and an uncle died in a house fire. Proctor claims that she had a vision telling her to paint and her first works were portraits of the three relatives who had died in the fire. The portraits were painted on doors and displayed in her front yard. The bright and evocative paintings caught the eye of a galley owner, starting Proctor's career as an artist.

Proctor often signs her piece as "Missionary Mary L Proctor," stating that she has a mission to help and glorify women who are broken and suffering and to inspire men to search their hearts and learn to respect women. She often incorporates religious and inspirational messages in her art. 

Proctor has had numerous one-woman shows and exhibitions throughout the United States and her works have been exhibited in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of African American Art, the American Visionary Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Proctor was featured in the cover story in Winter 1999-2000 edition of Raw Vision and in 2016 was awarded a Folk Art Society Award of Distinction by the Folk Art Society of America. Her works are part of the permanent collections of many museums, including the American Visionary Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the California African American Museum.

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