Mission Hill artist Marilyn Jan Casey

Mission Hill artist Marilyn Jan Casey came close to losing the use of her right hand, but that wouldn’t have stopped her from drawing and painting. The 57-year-old artist said she would’ve learned to draw and paint with her teeth if she had to.After being shot in the back at 34 by a former boyfriend, Casey has been forced to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury.

But the disability didn’t stop Casey from earning a degree at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008 and it didn’t stop her from working to have her art displayed in multiple solo exhibitions in Boston.“I valued life more after I got hurt because I could’ve been gone,” Casey said. “I was grateful for God saving my life so I decided to share my gift that he gave me.”
Casey’s most recent exhibit is on display at the Parker Hill Library in Mission Hill, where a crowd gathered last month for her artist’s reception.Casey was able to display her work through her membership in the Mission Hill Artists Collective (MHAC). MHAC focuses on providing opportunities for artists to display their work in the community.

The exhibit, Modern Spiritual Expressions: Past Present Future, will run until Sept. 2 and features 24 colorful paintings and oil painting reproduction, white and gray drawings inspired by Casey’s family and black history.“I don’t think we have enough [artwork covering black history]. When I was going to college, they would send me to the museum, but I never [saw] black art, so I decided to do black art,” Casey said.

Casey described her work as “filled with love,” and said she hoped the crowd could feel that love as they viewed her work at the Parker Hill Library.Eleven pieces, including one divided into two images showing two females as children and then adults, hang in the front desk area. These images represent the theme of past, present and future and tell individual stories, Casey said.

The 13 drawings in the adult room take viewers through a history lesson from pre-slavery to post-slavery.The story starts with two images of members of an African tribe and ends with a painting of Casey’s family, including her parents, twin brothers and twin sister.MHAC member Luanne Witkowski liked the idea of having paintings and drawings that tell stories hang in a space filled with books.“It’s perfect,” Witkowski said.

For Cecilia Mendez, director of Massart’s Center for Art and Community Partnerships (CACP), Casey’s use of color to offset tense moments in black history was impressive.Some of Casey’s images seem lighthearted, like the one that depicts three giggling girls at a sleepover. Others present heavy topics, like the image of three women picking cotton.The image of the women picking cotton is one of Casey’s favorites. It’s on display in her bedroom and is usually the first thing she sees in the morning.“Every morning I look at it and it brightens my day,” Casey said. “It gets me motivated and wanting to do more art.”

The exhibit covers more than a decade of work from Casey, who said she was satisfied with the turnout at the reception and excited to have another opportunity to share her work with the public.MHAC partnered with number of community organizations to execute the exhibition, including the CACP, which curated the exhibit.

Within a pastime often seen as a mode of escape, McIver found a route to her truest self. Similarly in her artwork, the North Carolina-based painter depicts the overlap of disguise and authenticity through her autobiographical depictions.

Whether depicting her own naked torso, her intimate circles or public figures like Bill T. Jones, McIver brings inner turmoil and light to the surface with her signature, densely packed flesh. McIver's paintings are so grounded in truth they're nearly confessional, yet her subjects' tangible emotions appear almost mask-like when translated onto skin.

Well, I had always wanted to have breast surgery because my breasts have always been really large. Around a year and a half ago I finally did it and it was liberating. They removed six pounds from my chest -- three from each breast and it was wonderful. It was great to paint about that experience, very liberating, and there are so many women that struggle with really large breasts.

I've been a long time admirer of Cindy Sherman's work. When she dressed up like a clown that was especially appealing to me because I wanted to be a clown when I was younger, like in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. But I just didn't get accepted into clown college. I think what she has done in terms of women's issues -- in terms of breaking down boundaries for women -- is quite fabulous.

I was part of a clown club in my high school, which was a predominately white high school, and to participate you had to be in white face. So my sister and I had to put on white face even though, of course, we were black. I did parades and birthday parties and then when I went to undergraduate I continued on my own doing clown things.

It was liberating to dress up in white face and to escape being black and poor and living on welfare. People either love clowns or they hate them, and the people who hate clowns stay away from them. So I received a lot of positive feedback!

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