Sister Magdalen Mary; Folk Art Expert, Educator

Sister Magdalen Mary, whose birth name was Margaret Martin, 85, an expert in folk art and the former chairwoman of fine arts at the now-defunct Immaculate Heart College. The retired educator, who held a master’s degree in art history from USC, specialized in mosaics and automata, defined as objects of imaginative quality that move mechanically. Her collection at the college, which included many mechanical toys and music boxes, became known as the Gloria Folk Art Galleries--for the Latin phrase “Gloria in excelsis deo”--because she conceived the idea at Christmastime. When her religious order fell into serious financial difficulties, Sister Magdalen Mary parted with the toys, selling the collection piece by piece through Sotheby’s auction house in 1968. She spent her life teaching and traveling to study art. For several years she also wrote, edited and published a newsletter on mosaics called the Irregular Bulletin. After the college closed in 1980, she retired to the San Fernando Valley. On July 17 in Los Angeles.