Mary Parks Washington (July 20, 1924 – March 27, 2019) was an American artist, arts advocate and art educator.
Mary Parks Washington | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Parks July 20, 1924 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | March 27, 2019 (aged 94) |
| Alma mater | |
| Children | 2 |
Biography
editMary Parks Washington was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Hattie Brookins Parks and Walter A. Parks. She had three sisters.[1] She attended Booker T. Washington High School, where she was a member of and created marionettes for the Doll Theatre Club.[2] She graduated from Spelman College in 1945 with a degree in art, where she worked closely with Hale Woodruff.[3][4][5] She received a master's degree in art from San Jose State University in San Jose, California.[5] Washington later went on to start a NAACP scholarship program for SJSU students.[3]
She was a member of Jack and Jill of America and Alpha Kappa Alpha. In the summer of 1946, she was awarded a scholarship to attend Black Mountain College.[5] At Black Mountain, she was roommates with sculptor Ruth Asawa.[4] She also studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Universidad Nacional de México.[5]
Washington worked as a teacher in the San Jose Union District for 28 years.[3]
Art
editShe developed a kind of painting she referred to as “histcollages” which included personal photographs, newspaper clippings, various writings, drawings and paintings.[6][1] By 1974, one of her paintings, "Black Soul", was held by the Johnson Publishing Company Art Collection in Chicago.[7]
In 1974, she held a one-woman art show at the San Jose Art League.[7]
In 1991, she donated her high school collection of marionettes to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.[2]
Personal life
editWashington moved to Campbell, California in 1956.[8]
Washington married and had two children.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b Black Caucus of ALA Newsletter. ALA Black Caucus. 1994. p. 20.
- ^ a b Richards, Paulette (2023-07-28). Object Performance in the Black Atlantic: The United States. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-91989-9.
- ^ a b c d Adkins, Jan Batiste (2019). African Americans of San Jose and Santa Clara County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4671-0243-8.
- ^ a b Gotthardt, Alexxa (2018-03-12). "8 Pioneering Women Artists of Black Mountain College". Artsy. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
- ^ a b c d Porco, Alessandro (Fall 2018). "The Life and Art of Mary Parks Washington". The New Americanist. 2 – via Edinburgh University Press.
- ^ ""Surrounded by Cellophane": Histcollages and Memories of Black Mountain College". Journal of Black Mountain College Studies. 11. October 2020.
- ^ a b "California Specials". Jet. 46 (7). Johnson Publishing Company. 1974-05-09. ISSN 0021-5996.
- ^ Spelman Messenger. Spelman College. 1956. p. 45.