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“Hear, see, be.” Wisdom from the owl who speaks from the darkness.

Artist Mary Ann Casey speaks earnestly about her caring for all creatures of this world and about the belief that the future of God’s world depends on man’s search for the good inherent “in ourselves and each other.”

“Somewhere in each of us is the desire to care for others, to love others and to be loved,” Casey said. “My heart theme in all the world is love. I feel a deep sense of connection to all life and people. We must see, hear, be and honor all life on this amazing planet. Our survival depends on it.”

Casey’s “Dimensions,” the featured exhibition at the Johnson Center for the Arts, is a body of multi-medium pieces, some that she “birthed quickly” while others were constructed from discarded materials.

“Over a much longer period, the two large paintings, ‘Cahaba Lilies One and Two’ came from another place,” Casey said. “The pieces speak of the resiliency of the Alabama landscape and her people. The African influenced masks come through a portal of my being that resonated through much of my work with the dance, music and mythology of Africa. My abstracts are an energy all their own, stories that I honor and surrender on canvas.”

Women both transcend and dominate Casey’s artwork.

Her work shows a deep understanding of the underlying passion that women have for each other and for God’s children.

“My work is not about me,” Casey said.  “It never has been about me. It’s about living together and coming together. It’s about the ritual of life and the need that we have for family, for tradition.  It’s about being one with each other and one with nature. It’s about love and caring for those who are hurting.”

Casey said, just as there is balance in nature, there must be balance among human life.

“We, as women, stand in solidarity for women and children who are hurting,” Casey said. “There is great hurting in our world and much of that hurt can be healed by prayer and communication with nature. Hurt can be healed by slowing down and enjoying what God has placed here on the Earth for that purpose. When we communicate with nature, there is healing in our souls.”

Casey said among women there is an understanding that what the world needs is love, and, with love, comes understanding and healing and a happiness deep within.

Those who view, Casey’s “Dimensions” might be surprised, she said, that much of her work was created from salvaged materials.

Cardboard boxes, pine needles, scraps of material…

“All salvaged. All transformed into something unique and useful and even beautiful,” Casey said. “Whatever we are; whoever we are, whatever our lives have become, we can all be salvaged. All it takes is a world of love, understanding, caring … and it begins with each of us. Now.”