Mary Fabilli (February 16, 1914 − September 2, 2011) was an American poet and illustrator who for many years made her living as an art teacher and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

at the

Oakland Museum The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cali ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. She was for a time married to poet

William Everson William Everson may refer to: * William Everson (poet) (1912–1994), American poet of the San Francisco Renaissance * William K. Everson (1929–1996), English-American film preservationist, historian and academic * William G. Everson (1879–1954 ...

and was close friends with poet Robert Duncan, both associated with the

Berkeley Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watts ...

and the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watts ...

in nearby San Francisco. Fabilli's published work centered on her personal experiences, particularly those related to her Italian heritage and her

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith, and she did not consider herself to be a Beat poet.

Personal history

Fabilli was the daughter of farmers, Vicenzo and Giacinta (Pone) Fabilli, who had immigrated from

Pacentro Pacentro is a ''comune'' of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about east of Rome. Pacentro has ...

, Italy, to the coal-mining

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

of Gardiner,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, before Fabilli's birth in 1914. The family moved several more times before buying a farm near

Delano, California Delano ( ) is a city in Kern County, California, United States. Delano is located north-northwest of Bakersfield at an elevation of . The population was 51,428 in 2020, down from 53,041 in 2010. It is Kern County's second-largest city after Ba ...

, where Fabilli grew up, eventually enrolling at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. To help pay for college, she worked for the

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...

(NYA) in Berkeley and then on art project for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) in Oakland. She graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in art and a minor in English in 1941. During World War II, Fabilli worked swing shift as a laborer in the

Kaiser Shipyards The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the West Coast of the United States, United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The s ...

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council.

. When the war ended, Fabilli taught art to seventh-graders in Berkeley and to adults at the

Young Women's Christian Association The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

(YWCA) in Oakland, and did clerical work for the ''East Bay Labor Journal'' before starting a career of almost 30 years teaching art and California history at the Oakland Museum. She became associate

of the museum's history department before retiring in 1977. She was also involved with Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement. Fabilli married Everson on June 12, 1948, and, influenced by her religious devotion, he converted to Catholicism. In 1951 he joined the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

as a

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

, and the marriage was

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...

. Fabilli died in 2011 in Oakland.

Work

In addition to her books of poetry, prose, and illustrations, Fabilli illustrated Duncan's “Heavenly City, Earthly City” (1947), and created woodblocks for Everson's ''A Privacy of Speech'' (1949) and ''Triptych for the Living: Poems'' (1951). Everson posed for two of the saints in her collection ''Saints: Nine Linoleum Blocks'' (1960). Her book-length compilation of text and illustrations by artist Ray Boynton was completed for the Oakland Museum in 1976. Fabilli contributed poetry to anthologies and collections, including ''New Directions 8'' (1944); ''Perspectives on William Everson'' (1992); ''Dark God of Eros: A William Everson Reader'' (2003), and ''Light Dark Wind Moon'' (2004), and to periodicals, including ''Occident'', '' Circle Magazine'', ''Talisman'', ''Epitaph'', ''Berkeley Miscellany'', ''Ritual'', and ''Experimental Review''. The

Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

at the University of California, Berkeley, has a collection, "Mary Fabilli papers, circa 1936–2009" that includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and other material.

Bibliography

Poetry

*''The Old Ones'' (written and illustrated by Fabilli) (1966) *''Aurora Bligh and Early Poems, 1935–1949'' (poetry and prose) (1968) *''The Animal Kingdom: Poems, 1964–1974'' (1975) *''Winter Poems'' (1983) * ''Pilgrimage'' (1985) * ''My Body'' (1985) * ''Simple Pleasures'' (1987) * ''Shingles and Other Poems'' (1990) *''Pious Poems'' (2001)

Prose

*''Aurora Bligh 2000'' (2000)

Illustrations

* ''Saints: Nine Linoleum Blocks'' (1960)

Compilations

* ''Ray Boynton and the Mother Lode : The Depression Years : xhibition May 4 through August 15, 1976, the Oakland Museum, History Special Gallery'' (text and illustrations compiled by Mary Fabilli in 1976)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabilli, Mary 1914 births 2011 deaths American women poets 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American women writers University of California, Berkeley alumni American women illustrators American illustrators Writers from Oakland, California 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American women writers American women curators American curators