Found Folk: Outsider Art of Mary Heald
Sept. 11 – 26

Found Folk: Outsider Art of Mary Heald features paintings and hanging assemblages as well as the artist’s free-standing doll-like multimedia sculptures. Mary is a self-taught artist who works from her home studio in Horse Shoe.

Heald’s assemblages are constructed from found objects that she finds interesting, from bones and handmade paper to kitchen tools or a cookie tin. Most of the 3D pieces end up shaped like dolls; some of her pieces are even lit from within.

“I love it when people use things that would normally go to the landfill, like metal and fencing, and pieces of wood I find by the river, because they’re beautiful,” says Heald. “I also use odd things like old clear colored vinyl records, one of which made its way into a doll.”

Heald admits to having a longtime fascination with collecting odd things, with an “intensity bordering on hoarding.”

“I’ll see something on the road and I’ll say, that looks interesting,” she says. “I’ve had some stuff for years because I like looking at it. I also love the look of things that fall from trees in the spring.”

Found natural materials form a large part of Heald’s sculptures. In one piece, the fibrous inner bark of a tree forms the hair for one of her doll figures. She’ll also root around in the bins at Goodwill, looking for things like broken antiques and old wooden boxes, which she will decorate with old patterned paper. “I just kind of fool around with it. A piece of metal might make a perfect eye or a perfect nose.”

Heald’s relationship with art began as a teenager, when she developed a deep appreciation and curiosity about art. Growing up in Glenview, Illinois, she was able to spend time at the Museum of Natural History and the Art Institute in Chicago, where she grew to appreciate a wide variety of artistic styles and mediums.

“Creating has always been a way of life for me,” she says, “whether doing needlework, jewelry, painting, ceramics, assemblages, or murals on the walls of my home. I work with my imagination and sometimes the work is really wild. Actually, most of the pieces in this show are wild!”

The wildness but also the whimsy in Heald’s work stems from her delight in the “happy” aspect of art. “I love the simple, joyous art that Miro and Chagall talked about,” says Heald. “I love simple colors and simple design. I’ve always loved Outsider art for those reasons.”

She adds, “I feel that the artist's responsibility is to make visible the deepest parts of themselves.”