Artist of the Month: Mary L. Thompson

Each month, the Franciscan Spirituality Center celebrates the creativity and talent of a local or regional artist. For September, we are featuring the work of Mary L. Thompson. 

Mary is a longtime friend of the FSC and has led our monthly Art as Prayer open studio watercolor sessions for several years. Her final session will be Monday, September 15. Please join us for refreshments and a chance to wish her well either in person at the FSC or on Zoom.

She has a lovely display of original watercolors and collages, plus some prints available for purchase.

ARTIST STATEMENT: 

We live in a community with an abundance of creatures upon which we depend, even though we rarely think of them. As a young girl, I spent summers in the field across from our home, bringing mud pies to life while immersed in wildflowers and taking frequent breaks to peek at the private lives of my six-legged companions. 

Since then, my love for nature has grown, as has my desire to express that love through art. Inspired by the heartfelt prose of Mary Oliver, I hope my creations stir a deep connection to Mother Earth and foster the desire to protect and care for her. 

MESSENGER by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.