Mary Fortuna’s “She Towers Above.”

The BBAC presents the work of Mary Fortuna.

There is a pervasive feeling when encountering the work of Metro Detroit artist Mary Fortuna, currently on display in the Robinson Gallery at the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center, of intense personal mythology at work. Fortuna’s exhibition, “She Towers Above,” which opened Friday, May 3rd and remains on display free of charge at the BBAC through June 16th, utilizes a familiar lexicon of symbols and signifiers from a number of established mythic traditions, but shuffles and re-sorts this imagery into a private world, populated by spindly giants, wax curiosities and stitched critters.

One of Fortuna’s towering hanging pieces.

Detail from the dress.

Indeed, there is a sense that the eponymous “She” who towers above is perhaps not the larger-than-life statues—a Wicker Woman-esque construction and a blue rabbit in an elaborately appointed dress—that presided over the opening night crowd, but Fortuna herself, who blended easily with her art patrons and fellows. If invocation of Fortuna as divine creator seems a little lofty, especially considering her humble and eminently approachable nature, then perhaps she is something like a chef, arranging and presenting a kind of mythic charcuterie, leaping from her fingers.

“Serpent Sisters.”

“Chick-A-Boom.”

A wall of hand-stitched hanging creatures.

The craft aesthetic is strong in Fortuna’s multi-media work, with attention to detail and execution that again brings the Creator spirit strongly to mind. Overall, an enchanting and imaginative body of work to be accessed and enjoyed by all lovers of art and fantasy.

Artist Mary Fortuna in front of a large hanging snake piece; the snake and ourobouros being a strong motif throughout the gallery.

Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center: 1516 S. Cranbrook Rd., Birmingham; 248-644-0866; exhibitions.bbartcenter.org