“She Towers Above,” the titular piece from Fortuna’s solo show at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in May of 2013.

In artist Mary Fortuna’s own words, she’s had the habit of “making stuff” for as long as she can remember. Playing, for her, was mostly making dolls and doll clothes, puppets, stuffed animals and toys, drawings, little books, whatever. “My mom was smart enough to make materials and tools available, and to let us alone to mess around on our own,” she says. After spending years making fairly conventional fabric dolls and toys, she attended art school in her mid-thirties, and became more focused about exploring different media. The dolls have been an omnipresent aspect of Fortuna’s work. “They’ve always been there,” she says.

“There have been many occasions where I needed to summon the fierce energy of the Hindu goddess Kali. I’ve made several representations of her in various media. She’s a fun doll to make.”

“I start playing with materials and see what wants to happen. Sometimes there’s a problem I want to solve – how do you make a figure with eight arms and legs, where do you join all the limbs and make it work?” (“Chick-a-Boom”).

Though she draws on stories and mythology, the Hindu pantheon, historical references, and other sources, Fortuna synthesizes this source material into a world of strong personal mythology (Kali is an exception to this). “Snakes come up a lot, and rabbits and turtles,” she says, “Sometimes I get hung up on insects or birds or reptiles. I especially like to combine human and animal aspects in one creature. These kinds of hybrids appear in legends and stories all over the world and throughout history.”

“Giant Flying Snake.”

“Back when I was just starting to get serious about making dolls, and feeling insecure and confused about whether that was a legitimate, serious practice for an artist, I was lucky enough to visit the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. That visit showed me something I’ve confirmed over and over ever since – every human culture throughout history has made representations of humans, in every possible material. Whether they were for ritual or magic or spiritual purposes, for toys, for decoration, just for amusement, they’re everywhere humans have ever been,” Fortuna says.

“Spider Woman,” “Heart in Hand,” “Frog.”

“Serpent Sisters” (detail).

“I sometimes need to set aside the dolls and sculptures and just draw and paint. This is where the snake obsession seems to really manifest itself. There’s just something about those rhythmic curves and lines, fooling around with color and pattern, images and symbols. Turtles, bees and other insects, lotuses and other flowers show up a lot in these. I don’t consider myself a serious painter by any means. This work is definitely influenced by circus and carnival posters and banners, sign painting in Africa and India and elsewhere, decorative painting on jitneys and buses, any kind of vernacular painting. I can draw on all the images and ideas that have always interested me, and put them together however they seem to fit,” Fortuna says.

“Squaring the Circle”

Fortuna’s interest currently lies  in creating installations that are more and more about occupying a whole space, using light and the dimensions of a space in very deliberate ways. She says, “I have a powerful urge to explore what I can do with shadow puppets.” Let’s hope we get to find out!

All photos courtesy of the artist. You can catch up with her here and here.