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2025 AWARD RECIPIENT

Frances McDonald

Making Marks

Sometimes we have an opportunity to notice something that disrupts our status quo and inspires us in a new direction – in Frances ‘case, a new mission for her work as an artist.

In 1998, Frances was one of a team of three artists tasked with creating a block long, 20-foot-high mural on a boarded-up building in downtown Chattanooga. Daunted by the physical size of the wall, the necessity of using historical themes, and having only a tiny stipend, the team decided to work with youth in Chattanooga’s Parks and Recreation programming. 120 hands could do quickly what the team could not.

As each bus arrived, groups of kids started with a short drawing class in the parking lot and then proceeded to the area where they would paint images of people. Two days later, they had hundreds of self-portraits in period costume arranged chronologically on the block long painting. The resulting mural was primitive, exuberant and wildly alive. What followed was Frances’ game changer.

For the weeks and months following its completion, Frances saw children, groups of children, children with their families standing in front of the mural, often taking pictures. Even from down the block, their body language was clear. These little artists showed not only immense pride, but ownership. They would say things like “I own it, this is me, and this is my city.” It was clear that they were experiencing citizenship undefined by any boundary.

After that experience, something shifted in her. She became uninterested in being a traditional artist – wondering why she was painting works that people may or not relate to, and more fundamentally, wondering if this was doing any good? She really wanted to make something that had some meaning beyond herself.

After this experience – Frances saw no reason why the making of art could not be harnessed to offer empowerment and inclusion of residents who usually didn’t consider themselves citizens? She started looking for opportunities and funding to take children and other marginalized populations, the so called “less thans” to the streets to create art. Very special were the aha moments when our participants realized their impact and started to inhabit a new skin, like realizing they were more than an observer. They could become contributors to a collective identity.   

Fast forward ten years and many murals later, Frances founded Mark Making as a non-profit arts organization with a specific premise: that a nonverbal language of lines, shapes, texture and color is understandable and usable by almost every person. Through her previous work with teens, persons with mental and developmental challenges, and justice-involved individuals, she learned that typically, people who are or who have been damaged in some ways are less obstructed by fear and have nothing to lose are often capable of letting their humanity just flow from the body in an authentic way. These images are unexpected and often very powerful; they need to be in the public domain and their creators, celebrated citizens.

Twenty-seven years after that first mural, Mark Making is devoted to a vision that inspires and amplifies the unique voices of Chattanooga’s marginalized populations by providing opportunities for them to engage in community projects that promote a more equitable future. As a result, Mark Making under Frances McDonald’s leadership has facilitated hundreds of hours of customized worships on creativity and citizenship to over 4200 individuals. To that end, Mark Making has partnered with close to 100 organizations and provided more than $250,000 in stipends to over 40 professional artists. Countless volunteers have also been invaluable.

Mark Marking also supports emerging arts non-profits as their fiscal agent and program sponsor, including ArtsBuild, Scenic City Angel, Southern Exposure, the Urbanist Society and Dogma Dance. These endeavors are collaborations. Frances believes that everyone has a mark to make, and thankfully there are many who agree.

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