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Rest as Resistance with Mary Farmer [Ep17]

Mary Farmer is an Asheville-based encaustic painter, who paints portals into a transcendent state of being. Referring to her paintings as soft landings, her work helps you decompress.

Scott Power

Dec 12, 2022 • 3 min read

If you’re listening to this podcast, you already know that there are so many reasons that art is important. It not only beautifies our surroundings, but it is a reflection of the world around us. For Mary Farmer, an artist with a long history as a women’s rights and social justice activist, art is liberation from the stresses of the world.

Mary is a renowned encaustic painter based in Asheville, who paints portals into a timeless and transcendent state of being. It’s easy to get lost in Mary’s tranquil landscapes and travel to a more peaceful place in your mind, which is exactly what she hopes to achieve. At the center of her practice lies a much more quiet activism, a call to take some much-needed refuge from the onslaught of negativity that surrounds us. Referring to some of her more abstract landscape paintings as “soft landings,” Mary’s work is created to help you slow down and take time to decompress.

Mary Farmer is an Asheville-based encaustic painter, who paints portals into a transcendent state of being. Referring to her paintings as soft landings, her work helps you decompress. — ‘Ambrosia Morning’ by Mary Farmer.

Ultimately, rest is a radical and intentional act of resistance in a world that has no pause button. By looking after our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional wellbeing, we can gather the energy we need to keep fighting for the causes we believe in. So, sit back, relax, and let Mary Farmer take you on a journey of creative self-care!

Key Points From This Episode:

The quiet activism at the heart of Mary’s practice
Ways that Artsville offers healing, friendship, and comfort
How art provides opportunities for deeper connection
The ‘mental vacation’ that art offers us in a post-COVID world
Important causes that Mary and Louise have advocated for together
Insight into Mary’s decision to reincorporate activism into her artwork
When Mary’s commitment to women’s rights began
Using art to translate the spiritual connection with nature that one feels in Asheville
Where Mary gets the energy to keep fighting for the causes she believes in
The importance of speaking loudly and clearly about social justice through art
An understanding of Mary’s focus on comfort, shelter, and beauty
Why we have to make time for rest and self-care in today’s world
Attracting attention to the arts as a form of activism
Mary’s approach to marketing as a “mutual exchange of pleasure”
A look at the global community of International Encaustic Artists
Nurturing a mass market for original art to give artists a better livelihood
The responsibility that artists have to put their work out there
Bringing art, education, and activism under one umbrella with Artsville