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by dr jeffery ames requiem for colour 2022 is a thirteen movement work for satb choir soprano tenor orator rapper orchestra and african percussion that adapts the form of the requiem mass traditionally offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased to tell a story of black enslavement and liberation gentry publications who publishes the score provides this description requiem for colour by jeffery l ames is a powerful choral and orchestral work that honors the lives and legacies of enslaved blacks from 1619 to 1865 and contemporary black martyrs who sacrificed for equality and freedom this masterwork skillfully blends idiomatic black musical genres with western european composition styles creating a unique and profound musical journey the requiem traces the black experience from west africa through the middle passage slavery and sharecropping in the south to the civil rights movement and today s ongoing fight against racism and injustice the libretto incorporates narratives from enslaved people sharecroppers and contemporary activists offering an aesthetic experience that both commemorates and challenges this deeply moving work is a testament to the resilience and complexity of black american history the finale celebration omega heaven is explosive view the full score in this february 5 2025 performance at the fisher center for the performing arts at belmont university in nashville ames conducts the belmont university oratorio chorus and orchestra comprising over 450 students the performance features soprano naguanda nobles tenor rodrick dixon and orators jasmine simmons and elliott robinson plus a lyrical rap by the composer s daughter lydia ames the concert and its recording which aired june 18 2025 on wnpt nashville s pbs station were made possible by a grant from the creative arts collective joy faith and strength in the mixed media art of missionary mary proctor june 9 2026 june 10 2026 victoria emily jones 5 comments all photos in this article are my own the american visionary art museum located right off baltimore s inner harbor is midway through its two year exhibition the strength to be joyful messages from mary proctor exuberant colorful and eclectic the paintings on display many of them collaged with buttons cloth and found objects are filled with stories from proctor s life lessons taught to her by her grandmother and prayers and scripture her work celebrates faith love friendship creativity and self worth mary louise proctor née cooksey was born june 11 1960 in lloyd florida a small town in jefferson county about twenty miles east of tallahassee her mother paulina gave birth to her at a young age and she was raised by her maternal grandparents frank and hattie cooksey she had an especially close bond with her grandmother who formed her in the christian faith and whom she describes as tender wise and forgiving one particular episode she recalls from her childhood is accidentally breaking a stack of her grandmother s blue willow plates while reaching for a teacake i thought she would whip me proctor recounted in paint in 1997 instead she held my hands and said i forgive you cause just yesterday god forgave me and she said one must forgive to be forgiven the door painting story of grandma s old blue willow plates portrays proctor s grandma reaching out to her as a child to remove her shame and console her assuring her of her unconditional love the clothing of the two figures is rendered in shards of the broken chinoiserie dishware veined with gold paint kintsugi like a metaphor for repair centered at the top of the door round and gleaming like a sun or a halo is an intact plate below it two angels one black one white resembling the plate s turtledoves swoop in and support the title proctor has given this sacred memory mary l proctor american 1960 story of grandma s old blue willow plates 1997 house paint acrylic liquid nails blue willow plates and hot glue on door american visionary art museum baltimore mary l proctor american 1960 my grandma s old blue willow 2004 acrylic spray paint cut paper cut metal liquid nails blue willow plates and hot glue on window american visionary art museum baltimore memories of her grandma and her grandma s wisdom sayings feature in much of proctor s work one painting enumerates eleven things my old grandmoma told me yesterday that holds me today such as tell you bussiness to god and every body that smile in your face ain t your friend one proverb her grandma would regularly recite is you can take a mule to the water but you can t make the sucker drink teaching her that we can offer help to other people but ultimately can t control their choices left to right story of grandma s old blue willow plates 1997 my grandpa old overalls 1995 the things my old grandmomma 1995 proctor dropped out of school in ninth grade and after escaping an abusive relationship married tyrone proctor in 1980 she worked as a nurse s aide until a nerve injury made the job unfeasible at which point she pivoted to collecting and selling miscellaneous objects for a living in january 1994 tragedy struck when proctor s grandmother aunt and uncle died in a house fire proctor was traumatized by seeing the charred bodies removed from the wreckage and she sunk into a depression she wrestled with god and even considered suicide the most beautiful personality you ever seen was my grandma she loved everybody proctor tells and i was like what happened to my grandmother i mean why lord why did you allow her to go that s my best friend i was wondering why such a woman had to go like that why did it happen while she didn t receive an answer to that question she did receive a new direction for her life in february 1995 while praying and fasting god spoke to her telling her to paint the door not quite sure what he meant she grabbed three detached doors that she had in her yard and painted the likenesses of her family members on them this was the beginning of her healing process and her career as a folk artist proctor was already used to salvaging things from dumpsters and roadsides that others deemed trash and making good purchases at flea markets now instead of cleaning them up to sell or resell in their current forms she found uses for them in her art making and started saving other discarded items as well buttons beads shells nails coins mirrors sticks spanish moss coffee cans toys shoes pails patches of cloth any of these are worthy art materials for her along with her go to house paint with them she embellishes doors of all sizes and other types of discarded wood which she ll often cut into shapes that suit her for her the reclamation of cast off things reflects god s redeeming work in our own lives how he rescues restores mends this work of mending was also modeled by her grandma who rather than throwing out old clothes with missing buttons or tears would lovingly fix them up when i was a child proctor reminisces my grandma would keep all her old button s in a jar she would keep em there to mend our cloth when one fell of f she would mend on another now we all need to be mended like gram mend them old button s mend us all lord mend us all two doors tell this story showing gram handing a young proctor a mended garment or a jar of buttons the two figures themselves constituted of buttons in the wispy blue background angels shower yellow flower petals over the scene a rain of mercy mary l proctor american 1960 mend us all 2003 acrylic liquid nails spray paint house paint buttons and hot glue on door american visionary art museum baltimore mary l proctor american 1960 the story of grandma s old buttons n d house paint acrylic buttons liquid nails mason jar and hot glue on door american visionary art museum baltimore black women are proctor s most frequently depicted subject whether herself specific relatives or more generic women her most iconic image type which exists in many variations is of a black woman looking and reaching up signifying trust in god for these she often cuts her substrate into a narrow vertical orientation emphasizing the seeking of things above a stretching toward the heavens her husband calls her paintings in this format slims two such slims counsel women to walk by faith per 2 corinthians 5 7 and to practice self love another much larger slim approximately life size insists on the salubrious impact of art making creation heals the body mind and soul it reads every day i look up and pray and say lord what can i create today to show a little sunshine a little hope a little mercy a little joy a little grace in these dark times as these let this little light shine the latter phrase a reference to jesus s sermon on the mount see matt 5 14 16 lit by the spirit by whose power she shares the gospel proctor prays that her art will benefit not only herself but all those who encounter it mary l proctor american 1960 creation heals the body mind and soul 2012 paintbrushes house paint and liquid nails on door courtesy of drs dahlia hirsch and barry wohl when she makes art she says she feels free like a butterfly it s a feeling that s well captured in it s a woman s world an unironically titled painting that revels in the abundant life jesus came to give both sexes john 10 10 all us descendants of adam and eve the painting shows four black women in beaded jumpers leaping impossibly wide in the air their arms outstretched hearts floating mary l proctor american 1960 it s a woman s world n d acrylic spray paint and beads on masonite panel american visionary art museum baltimore in the article from zora neale to missionary mary womanist aesthetics of faith and freedom ada c m thomas identifies the womanist black feminist theology expressed in proctor s art which celebrates black women as bold audacious and determined to embrace their lived experiences her figures embody a prideful yet humbled aesthetic they are self possessed and possessed by an intimate activist faith the women s eyes are frequently cast upwards in hopefulness and anticipation indeed proctor considers it part of her mission to get a message out to broken womens sic a message to help and glorify them she says i m going to get a message out so men can search their hearts learn to respect us and treat us the right way she believes everyone is a child of god and she wants her art to connect people to the hope peace joy and love that s accessible through him she calls herself a missionary often using that title in signatures of her name the lord spoke and he said you are on a mission to get a great message out into the houses and hearts she testifies related post the biblical imagination of folk sculptor annie hooper in look and see the angel is you by using a mirror as the face of the holy figure proctor preaches the imago dei image of god in every person encouraging viewers to recognize their inherent dignity and worth imbued in them by their creator mary l proctor american 1960 look and see the angel is you n d wood glue spray paint acrylic beads buttons jewelry and mirror on wood courtesy of drs dahlia hirsch and barry wohl in every child was born to rise up and be creative she echoes the cultural mandate god gave to humans in the garden of eden to develop and rearrange the raw materials of creation for the flourishing of all while not everyone is called to be an artist we are all called to create mary l proctor american 1960 every child was born to rise up and be creative 2023 acrylic liquid nails and paintbrushes on wood american visionary art museum baltimore we ought also to cultivate our own selves proctor often uses the metaphor popular in the middle ages of the soul as a garden in which we grow flowers of virtue for example a series of wood cutouts portrays women holding pails with signs like let love live in my garden and let grace live in my garden another declares and beseeches i refuse to let hate live in my garden love help me grow mary l proctor american 1960 i refuse to let the hate live in my garden 2022 acrylic on cut wood american visionary art museum baltimore besides vows and petitions proctor s art also contains testimonies in the black church testifying is a sacred tradition of sharing personal stories of survival deliverance and praise encouragement is a key component one of proctor s painted testimonies reads it may seem dark at times yet i hold on i know the sun will shine she knows god will never forsake her though he may occasionally seem absent other paintings by proctor mark milestones in her spiritual journey such as her baptism in lloyd creek in 1975 at age fifteen one such painting references the african american spiritual down by the riverside its refrain about relinquishing hatred and violence ain t gonna study war no more taken from isaiah 2 4 and micah 4 3 members of her missionary baptist church community gather round dressed in white and golden robes at the bottom center two elders raise up proctor s arms as she emerges from the baptismal waters cleansed and reborn several pieces highlight proctor s whimsical sense of humor it ain t over till the fat lady sings god bless america a patriotic adaptation of a well worn idiom made me laugh so did the adjacent painting the story of the two maxwell house friends mrs lilly and mrs dilly married to willie and billy the women proctor narrates would meet in philly get chilly and so sip their coffee and giggle about matters silly proctor affixed two teacups to the wood giving the work three dimensionality from left to right when a man loves a woman 1997 it ain t over till the fat lady sings god bless america 1996 the story of two maxwell house friends mrs lilly and mrs dilly 1996 if the cows can dance in green pastures 2012 i cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed 1995 a sense of delight infuses proctor s art she s attuned to the beauty of the ordinary the sacramentality of the everyday she identifies a spirit of joy and gratitude even in animal life every day i pass the cows she writes in one painting in the sunshine or rain the cows dance if the cows can dance in green pastures why can t we speckled and smiling her cows bear signs that say enjoy life be content it s going to be fine cattle are among those named as being part of the cosmic choir of creation in psalm 148 praising the lord proctor goes even further and imagines them dancing mary l proctor american 1960 if the cows can dance in green pastures 2012 acrylic house paint liquid nails and buttons on door american visionary art museum baltimore in the hallway outside the exhibition gallery it s a trio of women who dance the central painting shows proctor s signature upward gazing gal in a fringed dress opening her hands to receive divine love symbolized by the red hearts that angels pass down to earth in one long chain it s the love of god that makes the world go round proctor preaches pass the love from above mary l proctor american 1960 love makes the world go round 1997 house paint acrylic gl...