Mary Ann Casey came home to Troy Thursday and a room of friends greeted her at the Colley Senior Complex.

Casey spoke to the Colley Art Guild Thursday morning and to other friends who just wanted to hear her presentation.

“We had invited Mary Ann to come back and do a demonstration of her style of painting for the art guild and we opened the presentation to the public because Mary Ann has so many friends and admirers of her work,” said Janet Motes, Complex director. “She talked about her art and how she got started. Then she demonstrated her style of painting. She actually began five paintings at one time. It was amazing. She is amazing.”

Motes said Casey will complete the paintings and donate them to the Colley Senior Complex to be auctioned as a fundraiser for the senior center.”

Casey explained to her friends that she never “explains” her art.

“I can’t explain my art,” she said. “When I paint, I just let it flow. You have things that get to you. Things that really mean something. You all know what I’m talking about. Things you can’t really explain. Feelings that you have.”

Casey said that, as an artist, it is important to have things around that “speak to you.”

“Old books,” she said. “All artists love old books. I don’t know why. There’s just an energy there that you can’t explain. It’s just part of your soul.”

Casey said that it’s important to stay connected to the past.

“I’ve fallen in love again with Abe Lincoln,” she said. “All of the things that he did. All of the things that he experienced. He was such an amazing man and achieved such great things.”

Then there are things that one must do to feed the soul.

Casey said she has been so moved, so touched by the book, “Navajo Long Walk” that she has a strong desire to make the long walk.

It’s the story of a proud people’s forced march from their homeland and Casey said she will walk, not for herself, but in honor of the mothers and daughters whose lives were disrupted and forever changed by the “Navajo Long Walk.”

“As artists, as women, have something that speaks to you,” she told her audience. “Be real. Just feel and do. That’s what I would say to you. Feel. Be real. And do what feels right.”