Studio –  Painter, Virginia

About the Artist - Mary Onley, known as "Mama Girl," is a self-taught artist who was born, reared, and still lives in her hometown of Painter VA. Her lyrical sculptures, similar to paper maché‚ but without wire or other frame, consist exclusively of newspaper. They poignantly mirror the experience of being black in America. Onley’s life bears similarities to the acclaimed black painter of the Harlem Renaissance, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), whose work appears in major museums throughout the country. Both Lawrence and Onley came from families who labored on farms. Neither could go to school because the money they earned in the fields was crucial to support their families, and both discovered art as way of resolving deep depression. Mama Girl says, “If the spirit don’t give it to me, I can’t do it.”