Mary Parks Washington was an Atlanta-born visual artist, arts advocate, and art educator.

Born on July 20, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia, Washington's artistic talent was first recognized by her teachers at Booker T. Washington High School. She attended Spelman College, majoring in art and studying under renowned artist Hale Woodruff and sculptor Elizabeth Prophet. During her time at Spelman, Woodruff encouraged her to spend a summer at the Art Students League in New York, where she studied drawing with Reginald Marsh.

After graduating from Spelman in 1946, Washington received a scholarship from the Rosenwald Fund to attend the Summer Art Institute at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, thanks to Woodruff's support. There, she studied design and color with Josef Albers, painting with Jean Varda, and photography with Beaumont Newhall. It was at Black Mountain that she formed lifelong friendships with sculptor Ruth Asawa, one of her roommates, and artists Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence.

In the fall of 1946, Washington returned to Atlanta and began teaching in the public schools, first as a second-grade teacher and later as an art teacher at David T. Howard High School. In 1947, she studied art at the University of Mexico during the summer.

After returning from Mexico, she married Samuel Washington, a former Tuskegee Airman and psychiatric social worker in the U.S. Armed Forces. Due to his military assignments, the Washingtons lived in various locations from 1950 to 1958, including Fort Devins, Massachusetts; Sampson Air Force Base, New York; and Japan. In 1958, they settled in Campbell, California, where Washington taught art in public schools and raised their two children, Erik A. Takulan and Jan Lois Washington.

Washington earned a Master of Arts in Art from San Jose State University in 1978 and studied art at universities in West Africa. She also studied Japanese brush painting under private tutors in Japan and took a collage workshop with Romare Bearden in St. Martin.

Washington worked in multiple mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and a unique collage form she developed called "histcollage," which combines old documents with her artwork. Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including the Asheville Art Museum, Auburn Avenue Research Library, Oakland Museum, and San Jose Art Center. Notably, her painting Black Soul was acquired by Johnson Publishing Company for display at its Chicago headquarters in 1971. The Auburn Avenue Research Library holds a significant collection of her paintings.

In addition to creating art, Washington was a passionate arts advocate. She worked to maintain and improve art education in schools, champion public art, and create opportunities for community involvement in the arts. She served on the State of California’s Art Curriculum Criteria Committee and the advisory committee for the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, chaired The Arts Committee of The Links, Inc., and was an active member of the National Conference of Artists and the San Jose Art League. Washington also led art workshops for educators and the public.

In 1978, she helped form the San Jose chapter of The Links, Inc., and was involved in several civic organizations, including Alpha Kappa Alpha, Jack and Jill of America, the NAACP, and the Country Women’s Club of Campbell.

Washington retired in 1988 from the Union School District in San Jose and passed away in 2019 in Campbell, California.