Our Lady of the Market is a modern day re-interpretation of the spiritual concepts of need and sustenance. The painting.s iconic central figure represents the presiding spirit of the market, a spirit of this vital place where modern souls turn not only for the nourishment of natural bounty and abundance, but for the deeper experience of communion.

The work is distinguished by the incorporation of a mosaic in the central cornocopia depicting her bounty and 3-dimensional fiberglass arms and hands reaching up around an empty plate, representing the fundamental yearnings and needs that unite people across race, gender, age and origin.

Maria Friske is fond of saying the Swillburg Neighborhood history is akin to .America.s Greatest Hits.. Five panels depict: the Iroquois Nation (A Matriarchal Society which inspired early suffragists); Frederick Douglass; The Erie Canal; Cab Calloway (who later became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance); and the Early Rochester Subway System. All played prominent roles the community which started out as farmland, including pig farms, and grew into a modern urban neighborhood rich in cultural diversity.