Where the Everyday Turns Sacred
Marcy Parks
Abstract Impressionism | Bristol, TN
Marcy Parks is an abstract expressionist artist living with her family in Bristol, Tennessee. Early in her life, Marcy showed a passion for the arts. After graduating with her B.A. in English Literature, Marcy would later find her way back to her visual art practice, marrying her love for painting with her love for writing.
She creates large-scale, bold and feminine abstract paintings that embody the spirit of freedom, joy, expression, and play. Her works, often beginning with words, are regularly accompanied by brief essays, short stories, and poetry, giving insight into the influences behind her visual works.
April X, 2026
Where do you feel your story as an artist truly begins?
I have always been an artist, but I didn't find my voice as an artist until 2020. While it was a chaotic time for the world, it was deeply stabilizing for my creative expression. My employer chose to close business for a year, and with nowhere to go and a lot of big feelings, I poured myself into creating. I had the time and opportunity to explore mediums and materials, to take virtual workshops, to develop rituals around my work, and to familiarize myself with the cycle of my creative rhythm. In that time, I participated in a virtual critique group as part of the Artist Mother Network and A'driane Nieves, an incredible artist and writer, was the mentor. I remember telling her I was struggling against a desire to express the tangled mess of feelings I carried on the inside, wrestling against a history of perfectionism, and she told me "Whatever you are feeling, the canvas can take it." Those words were the catalyst of a revolution in my work that led to me embracing the feelings of chaos and embracing the "discordant harmony" that characterizes my work today.
What early experiences or environments shaped the way you see the world?
My childhood was incredibly chaotic, and I also work as a social worker, so I have an intimate familiarity with the painful truths humanity carries, but as an artist I am always looking for the beauty in the world and carrying in both hands the balance between heartbreak and joy, despair and hope, chaos and peace. One of the places where I commune with beauty and find the deepest sense of peace among chaos is in nature, on the trails of the place I call home in Appalachia. There is no order to the untamed landscape of the Appalachian wilderness and yet it is harmonious and reassuring. The Appalachian wilderness, in that way, heavily influences my work.
Marcy in the Appalachian wilderness
Is there a moment or chapter in your life that changed your relationship to making?
Becoming a mother absolutely changed my relationship to making. Before, my work held little meaning to me outside of what was happening or what I was creating in the moment.
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Now, I think of my work in terms of legacy,
the role it plays in shaping culture, and the example it sets for my two daughters. I will forever be challenging myself to be bolder, braver, louder, to take up more space, and to be more expressive in my art because I want my girls to feel at home in however those qualities take shape in them. Because of them, I am and will always be pushing the boundaries of what is “too much” in my work so that they will always know that there is no such thing.
She’s a Taurus
How would you describe your practice today, and how has it evolved over time? Why do you think that is?
My work is always evolving in its reflection of my life through passing seasons. Before children, my work would sprawl, unfinished, over the kitchen table and would stay like that for days or weeks until I moved on. Then, my first daughter was born, so I worked at a small desk in the corner of my living room and my work was more restrained, confined to small scale pieces no bigger than 8" x 10" in size. When my first daughter was still a baby and not yet crawling, I worked in oil paints, but once she became mobile, I switched to acrylics because they dry much faster and I didn't have to worry about her getting ahold of a painting that was still drying days later. Over time, though, as my confidence in my identity as an artist/mother/Marcy/human grew, my work grew in size, and so did the space where I create it.
Lisa planning a collection in her studio
What role does experimentation or play have in your work?
A crucial one! Without play and experimentation I never would have figured out what I wanted to paint or how I wanted to paint it. It is such an important part of growing as an artist. My advice is always to keep room for play and try as many materials and subjects as you can. You never know what you might discover about yourself in the process.
What are three adjectives you would use to describe yourself? Are these the same you would use to describe your art? Why or why not?
My art is vibrant, whimsical, and expressive. I would describe myself as curious, empathetic, and driven. They are not the same words, but I think they are connected. The curiosity and empathy feed directly into the work, and the vibrancy and whimsy are just what happens when those qualities find their way onto the canvas.
What questions are you trying to answer—or keep alive—through your work?
I am not sure I ask myself questions as much as I dig through stories and emotions and try to make sense of them through painting. My art is really about figuring out who I am and what I value most.
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The themes I keep returning to are love, connection, transformation, and slow living.
Those feel like the things I am always trying to understand more deeply.
What do you hope people feel or understand when they encounter your work?
A sense of home. A little nostalgia. I want people to look at my work and feel something familiar, like being reminded of a quiet moment they had forgotten to appreciate. I explore connection and the extraordinary in the ordinary, and I hope that comes through in a way that feels warm and personal.
What do you think your work is teaching you about yourself?
Every collection teaches me something new. My first body of work showed me that I am someone who deeply values living in the present and finding meaning in everyday moments, even the quiet and ordinary ones. The collection I am working on now is teaching me to stop waiting for the right moment and to show up and work for what I want. I am still deep in it, but I cannot wait to see what else it uncovers.
If someone truly understood your work, what would they understand about you?
That I think deeply about life and that the things that matter most to me are not things at all. I love my friends and family and I treasure the connections I have with the people in my life. Those relationships and shared experiences shape who I am, and I think they quietly shape every painting too.
What are you reaching toward in your practice that you haven’t yet touched?
I want to loosen up. My work can feel a little stiff and controlled at times.
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I’m craving more freedom in how I paint. I want to be less precious about perfection
and let the work breathe a little more. It is something I am actively working on and it feels exciting and uncomfortable in equal measure.
How do you imagine your work evolving as your life continues to unfold?
I would love to see my work expand beyond walls. Clothing, furniture, stationery: I want my art to live in people's everyday lives in a real and tangible way. There is something really special about the idea of your work being used and interacted with rather than just displayed. That feels like the next chapter.
What are you most proud of at this point in your artistic career?
The fact that people recognize my work from a single glance. I have had people tell me they can spot a Lisa Nooin painting straight away, and that genuinely makes me so happy. Developing a recognizable style takes time and a lot of self trust, and knowing that it is coming through means a great deal to me.