“Missionary” Mary Proctor (b. 1960) lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

Like Lonnie B. Holley, Proctor turned to art to relieve her grief upon the death of loved ones; in Proctor’s case, it was the death of her aunt, uncle and the grandmother who raised her in a fire at their trailer in 1994.  Unable to overcome her sorrow, Proctor fasted and prayed until she was blinded by a bright light and heard a voice tell her the “door is in the way” and “to paint the door.” Proctor, who had been running a junk store, began to paint inspirational message and memorials to her grandmother on doors and other household items.  “Grandma Old Buttons” is an example of Proctor’s artistic tribute to her grandmother.  Proctor’s work is in the permanent collections of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.