Mary's Gone Wild
July 7, 2014 5:43 AM Subscribe
At her "Visionary Folk Art Garden & Doll Village" in Holden Beach, North Carolina, Mary Paulsen has built a "bottle house", multiple houses for more than 6,000 dolls, and a standalone gallery to showcase the relentlessly colorful paintings she makes on discarded window glass. No surface goes unembellished.
Mary has been the subject of an 11-minute documentary film and a book, Doing the Vision. Impressed visitors often photograph the colorful details of her artwork. (Series by Mark Huey, series by Sherman Hayes.) She gives a portion of the proceeds from selling her art to Feed the Children. One recent visitor wonders, "Is it creepy, is it art, or is it both?"
Mary has been the subject of an 11-minute documentary film and a book, Doing the Vision. Impressed visitors often photograph the colorful details of her artwork. (Series by Mark Huey, series by Sherman Hayes.) She gives a portion of the proceeds from selling her art to Feed the Children. One recent visitor wonders, "Is it creepy, is it art, or is it both?"
The "Is it creepy, is it art, or is it both?" link kinda reflects how I originally felt about things like this. We have a guy who drives an old Jeep pickup truck that has dolls and action figures covering every surface. A sign hanging off of it says, "Art in motion."
I used to think the guy who drove the thing had to be a serious creepster until I met him. He was the chillest, coolest dude ever.
Mary and her house reminds me of that. So remember people, just because the art seems creepy to you doesn't mean the artist isn't awesome!
posted by charred husk at 6:00 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I used to think the guy who drove the thing had to be a serious creepster until I met him. He was the chillest, coolest dude ever.
Mary and her house reminds me of that. So remember people, just because the art seems creepy to you doesn't mean the artist isn't awesome!
posted by charred husk at 6:00 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I can imagine being her houseguest and waking up in the morning with doll parts glued all over your body and your feet painted blue...
posted by jim in austin at 6:11 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 6:11 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
Over 14,000 meals provided for kids, and she's doing what she loves. Works for me. (and its all shiny and colorful!)
posted by korej at 6:12 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by korej at 6:12 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh wow. My family has been vacationing in Holden Beach for 20+ years and I have driven past her spot many times without knowing anything about it. I'll have to check it out this year.
posted by ghharr at 6:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ghharr at 6:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is wonderful.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:27 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
The meals for kids and window art is just awesome, and I'm rather envious of the bottle house, but the first link has a lot of weird--especially that God/school thing
posted by BlueHorse at 3:50 PM on July 7, 2014
posted by BlueHorse at 3:50 PM on July 7, 2014
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posted by MonkeyToes at 5:49 AM on July 7, 2014