Dissolution of X, c. 1970

MAVIS PUSEY (born 1928)
Dissolution of X, c. 1970
Color screen print on paper
28 ¾ x 22 ½ inches (image)
Signed, titled, and numbered in pencil at lower margin
From an edition of 30

African-American artist Mavis Pusey was born in 1928 in Jamaica, West Indies. Pusey began her studies in the Arts Students League in New York. Originally studying fashion she switched her interest to printmaking, studying with Will Barnet at the League.

Further studies took her to London, where she worked at the Birgit Schold Workshop, then back to New York and finally to Virginia, where she received her B.A. at Mary Baldwin College. Between 1969 and 1972 she worked at the Robert Blackburn Workshop and later at the New School for Social Research in New York. She exhibited with Louis Soulanges in Paris, Curwen Gallery in London and AAA in New York.

Her art has been exhibited internationally in galleries, collections, and in solo and group exhibitions. She has taught at various educational institutions, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Drew University, New Jersey, and the New School for Social Research, New York, among others.

She was affiliated with the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors in New York; the National Museum of Women in the Arts; and the Visual Artists and Galleries Association to name a few.

Pusey writes, "Tempo and movement hold onto a color and texture to convey the tension that is the heartbeat of the city. As an abstract-geometric artist, I have always been inspired by my environment. I see realistic shapes before I transform them into abstract forms."

Education
B.A., Mary Baldwin College
New School for Social Research, New York
Robert Blackburn Workshop, New York
Birgit Schold Workshop, London
Art Students League, New York

Scholarships, Grants, Awards
Advisory Committee, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York
International Woman's Year Award in Recognition of Outstanding Cultural Contribution and Dedication to Women and Art
Staten Island Museum, " Majors Travel Tour Award"
Permanent Loan, United Negro College Fund
Pollock-Krasner Award
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Purchase Award
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
Bryon Browne Memorial Award, Art Students League, New York
Ford Foundation Tuition Award, Art Students League, New York

Exhibitions
Artists Equity, New York, 1997
Sweet Briar College, Pannell Center Art Gallery, 1996 - Contemporary African-American Women Artists
National Arts Club Exhibition and Silent Auction, New York, 1993 - Benefit for Robert Blackburn and the Printmaking Workshop
Piedmont Virginia Community College, 1993
Bronx River Art Center and Gallery, 1992
Lamar Dodd Art Center, LaGrange, Georgia, 1991
National Black Arts Festival, New York, 1988
Art Students League, 1986, 1993
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, 1985 - Through A Master Printer: Robert Blackburn and the Printmaking Workshop
City Gallery/2, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of New York, 1983
Atlanta Memorial Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia, 1983
Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, 1984
The William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1983
Drew University, New Jersey, 1980
Rutgers State University, Newark, New Jersey, 1978, 1980
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania 1979, 1984
Pennsylvania State University, 1978
Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania, 1977
Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, 1978
Huntington Art Center, 1977 - 21st Annual Print Exhibition
Florida International University, 1977 - Contemporary Black Art: A Selected Sampling
Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, 1977
Rainbow Art Foundation, New York, 1977
Duffy-Gibbs Gallery, New York, 1977
Woman's International Art Center, New York 1975-76
Lehman College, New York, 1975
Queensborough College, New York, 1975
Stony Brook Union Gallery, Stony Brook, New York, 1975
Staten Island Museum, New York, 1975
American Federation of Arts, New York, 1974 - The Etching Process. An Exhibition Organized by the Printmaking Workshop and the AFA
Whitney Museum, New York, 1971 - Contemporary Black Artists in America
Galerie Louis Soulanges, Paris, 1968
Dickson Art Galleries, UCLA, 1966 - The Negro In American Art: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Afro-American Art

Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Citibank, New York
First National Bank of Chicago
Metropolitan Opera House
New York Artists Equity Association
Tougaloo College, Jackson, Missippi
United States Embassy, Abidjan-Cote d'Ivoire
Cochran Collection

Teaching
Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, Virginia, 1993-1996
New School for Social Research, New York , 1973-1988
Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, 1980-81
New York State Summer School of the Arts, New York, 1978-89
Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, 1977-78
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, 1974-1986
SUNY, Stonybrook, 1974-77