Margo Humphrey
View Artwork
Margo Humphrey was born in Oakland, California. Educated in the Oakland Public Schools and Bethlehem Lutheran Parochial School and graduated from Oakland High School in 1960. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Painting and Printmaking. She pursued Post Graduate study from The Whitney Museum of American Art Summer Program in 1972 while attending Stanford University's Graduate School. She graduated from Stanford with honors and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking. She has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, among them: The James D. Pheland Award, two National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships, a Ford Foundation Fellowship and twice nominated for a Tiffany Fellowship for full tuition to Stanford University in 1971 and again in 1988 for an Artists Fellowship. A one year Fellowship in 1980 was awarded to Humphrey by the Ford Foundation for research through the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
AWARDS and FELLOWSHIPS
Humphrey began her career in teaching at the University of California in 1973.
In Humphrey's third year of teaching she was invited by the Queen of Samoa
to teach University Satellite courses at the University of the South Pacific
at Suva, Fiji. She has since taught at the University of Texas, San Antonio,
The San Francisco Art Institute and has served as Visiting Professor at The
School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
She has been awarded Teaching Fellowships from the United States Information
Agency Arts America Program as Visiting Professor at Yaba Technological Institute
of Fine Art, Ekoi Island, Nigeria, the University of Benin, Benin, Nigeria,
The Margaret Trowell School of Fine Art, Kampala, Uganda, and The National
Gallery of Art, Fine Art School, Harare, Zimbabwe in South Africa. She joined
the faculty of the Department of Art at the University of Maryland in 1989
and served as Graduate Director of the Department of Art from 1991- 1993.
TEACHING HONORS
Humphrey has lectured in the United States for the following: The National
Gallery of Art, the Ford Foundation National Research Council, the Cleveland
Institute of Art, the Oakland Museum, the Spencer Museum, the National Museum
of Women in the Arts, also, the Corcoran School of Fine Art, the Consortium
on Education, in Lincoln Nebraska, the National Art Education Association,
the College Art Association, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the
Department of Art at the University of California at Berkeley, Oakland Public
Schools, San Antonio Public Schools, Southern University in New Orleans, and
many other universities in North America and Africa.
In addition to Humphrey's impressive credits for her teaching, her accomplishments
as an artist and educator have been recognized. She was honored as the first
African American woman to teach studio courses at the University of Texas,
at San Antonio and her children's book, "The River That Gave Gifts" was read
in the San Antonio Public Schools and shared with the San Antonio Community.
In recognition of these accomplishments she was proclaimed "Artist of The
Muses" by Mayor Henry Cisneros. She has received the Marcus Foster Award for
Distinguished Educators from the Oakland Public Schools and has participated
as an Arts and Humanities Fellow for the improvement and documentation of
teaching, sponsored by the Lilly-CTE Teaching Fellows, University of Maryland
at College Park.
Highly regarded as artist and printmaker, according to current literature,
Humphrey is sited as, "One of the most exciting artists making prints today,"
in the Tamarind Technical Papers, Spring 1986. Her work was selected by the
Stanford Committee for the Arts, to be presented to Duke Ellington in an Honorary
Degree Ceremony. Her commissions include: The San Francisco Foundation, The
Tamarind Thirty Year Portfolio, The Oakland Ballet, stage sets and costumes
for the Premier Production of "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by actor Danny
Glover, and an installation for the exhibition, "Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture
and Modernism", the Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, and the University
of Nebraska, at Omaha.
PUBLICATIONS
Humphrey is the author and illustrator of the children's book, "The River
That Gave Gifts". This book was nominated by Mrs. Barbara Bush, wife of the
President of the United States, for "National Literacy Week", and read by
Mrs. Bush on the national television Program, "Working Woman" on which Humphrey
is also interviewed. During the making of her lithograph, "The Last Bar-B-Que"
at Tamarind Institute, she makes an appearance on a segment of the television
program, "Sixty Minutes", narrated by Mike Wallace. She has also been interviewed
by radio station WPFW 's childrens program, " Pass It 0n'', in Washington,
DC.
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Humphrey's works are included in several important national and international
permanent collections. They include: The Museum of Modern Art, in New York
City, The National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.,
The Bradford Galleries, in London, England, The Museum of Modern Art, Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil, The National Gallery of Art, Lagos, Nigeria, The San Francisco
Legion of Honor, The Margaret Pace Wilson Collection, in San Antonio, Texas,
and The Dr. William H. Cosby and Camille Cosby Private Collection. Also, The
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Permanent Collection of the United States
Information Agency Arts America Program, in Washington, D.C., and Victoria
and Albert Museum, in London, England.
She is currently teaching at the University of Maryland at College Park and
is represented by Rabb Enterprises, in Chicago, Illinois, The McIntosh Gallery
in Atlanta, Georgia and was formerly represented by The Brody Gallery, in
Washington, DC. Margo Humphrey resides in Hyattsville, Maryland with her two
school age children.
Return to Faculty Listing
The Department of Art : University of Maryland |
Tel: 301.405.1445 |