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Mary Wyrick Artist

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Mary Wyrick

6939 Eaglesfield Road

Gibsonville, NC 27249

email: wyrickml@buffalostate.edu

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Artist Statement:

This series of paintings is based on vintage black and white photographs of a picnic and beauty pageant for “Miss Mayfair” in 1941. “Mayfair Mills” was a division of “Burlington Mills,” where my parents worked in Burlington NC. Textile Mills in that area in the forties were a driving force of the local economy and culture. While the world was sinking into war, the textile mills were insular subcultures. At that time, most mills were segregated, and most employees were women. Mills offered “company shops” to sell goods to workers and built “Mill villages” to house them, deducting charges from their paychecks. There were also mill churches and entertainment, often staged in parks, back yards, and community spaces. In this series, I am interested in the relationships between the contestants, the workers, and the management running the picnic. I scrutinized old photos for signs of cultural norms, identity, and gender roles in this venue where local workers created their own entertainment.