Mary Frances Whitfield Self-taught artist Mary Whitfield was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1947. When she was a child, Whitfield's grandmother was a strong influence on her developing perceptions. She brought Whitfield to church and to civil rights meetings. She also told her many stories of slavery, black oppression, as well as of peaceful farm life. During her adolescence, Whitfield and her mother moved to Long Island. There, Whitfield would eventually meet her husband, David, a hardware salesman. Although she worked by trade as a supervisor of library services, she was inspired to translate her grandmother's vivid oral tradition into visual images. While her children were still young, Whitfield began expressing herself with old house paint and plywood. Later, in 1990, she moved to watercolors on canvas. Whitfield focuses her rich paintings on the historical and modern plight of African-Americans, and the cruelty and injustice they have experienced. The powerful works contain little detail; the figures have no facial features. Instead, the drama of their gestures or body language conveys the feeling of the painting. Whitfield's work has been exhibited at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, at numerous galleries around the nation. It is also featured in the permanent collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Whitfield was recently commissioned to illustrate children's book about her husband's youth. She is also the subject of an article by a Birmingham, Alabama curator in Raw Vision magazine. Whitfield currently lives in Port Washington, near Long Island, and paints on her lap every night in bed. Mary Frances Whitfield Catalog Commemorates Mary's first solo museum show and compiles some of her most important works. 20 Pages of glossy color images and information about the artist. Includes essays by both Laurie Carmody Ahner of Galerie Bonheur and Phyllis Stigliano, long time friend and associate of the artist. Price: $15.00 (includes shipping within the US) Graveyard for the Innocents Medium: watercolor and gouache on paper Size: Price: Please Inquire Rainbow of Uneven Colors Medium: watercolor and gouache on paper Size: Price: Please Inquire Eating at Big Mama's and Papa's House Medium: watercolor and gouache on Arches paper Size: 9.25 x 12.5 Price: Please Inquire We Love You Papa Medium: watercolor and gouache on Arches paper Size: 9 x 6 Price: Please Inquire Fan Dance Medium: watercolor and gouache on canvas board Size: Price: Please Inquire Fleeing Darfur Medium: watercolor and gouache on Arches paper Size: 15.75 x 14.75 Price: Please Inquire Hermie Mae Medium: watercolor and gouache on paper Size: Price: Please Inquire I Know Why Medium: watercolor and gouache on Arches paper Size: 15 x9.25 Price: Please Inquire Four Swans in Alabama Medium : watercolor on canvas Size: 9.25 x 11.5 Price:Please Inquire   Our Mother Medium: watercolor and acrylic on canvas board Size: 11.5 x 15 Price: Please Inquire Slave Auction Medium: watercolor on canvas board Size: 16 x 20 Price: Please Inquire Truth, It Really Happened Medium: watercolor on Arches paper Size: 7 x 4 3/4 Price: Please Inquire Despair Medium: watercolor on canvas board Size: 16 x 24 Price: Please Inquire KKK Medium: watercolor and gouache on canvas board Size: 16 x 20 Price: Please Inquire Hate, The Killings: Jerusalem Now, and the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Then Medium: watercolor and gouache on paper Price: Please Inquire Cotton Fields Medium: watercolor and gouache on paper Size: Price: Please Inquire Narrative: Cherry Pie Medium: watercolor and gouache on Arches paper Size: 8 x 20.25 Price: Please Inquire