Artist Profile: Mary Dispenza

Black and white photo of person with white hair wearing glasses

Mary Dispenza (pronouns: she/her) is a proud lesbian living with her spouse in Bellevue, WA. Presently Mary serves on the LGBTQ+ advisory task force for the Bellevue Police Department. She is a former member of the LGBTQ+ Childcare Task Force and longtime activist for marriage equality. 

Mary is mostly a self-taught artist who has always found the Arts a saving grace, especially as a child dealing with the secret of childhood abuse by a parish priest and in later life a way to express truth and the joy of life.

“Art frees my soul and takes me to a different level of awareness, calm and understanding. It detaches me from everyday concerns and grounds me in a different reality. Color swirls around me and I am lost in it. As the brush and paint make a story across the canvas layer by layer, I go deeper and deeper into spirit. Art raises me up and pulls me down, a dance I treasure.”

Rainbow Rising

Painting of heron with rainbow background

Exhibited at Rainbow on the Eastside 2021.

Acrylic on canvas
24″‘x20″

The solitary Heron represents our singular journey as LGBTQ+ persons finding our way to the rainbow of the fullness of life and love.


Love Begets Life

Painting of two transgender women of color in profile

Exhibited at Rainbow on the Eastside 2021.

Giclee print
28″x22″

Trans women of color rise up in beauty and love awakening in us the fullness of love and new life.


El Sombrero Grande

Painting of person with skull makeup, wide colorful hat and red shirt

Exhibited at Rainbow on the Eastside 2021.

Acrylic on canvas
36″x24″

He/she rests their head on a singular rose taking comfort from its beauty as power and joy ignite through the SOMBRERO.


El Dia de los Muertos

Photograph of person in skull makeup wearing flowers on their head

Exhibited at Rainbow on the Eastside 2021.

Photograph canvas print
16″x20″

The challenge is to live full and beautiful lives that bring us to death and Rising and to celebrate our ancestors who have done just that!


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