Bio
At the age of five years Margo Mead delighted in drawing all she saw, and from first grade on was considered class artist. She received a scholarship from Pratt Institute and graduated with a BFA, studying with Stephen Greene, Jacob Lawrence, Richard Lindner, Philip Pearlstein and many others. Pratt retained several of her works for their collection. At this time Mead pursued a new approach in figurative painting. She later continued education at Queens and Teachers College.
Seeking change and in depth contact with the “masters” she explored Paris and The Louvre: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Monet, Matisse; Southern France: Aix en Provence, immortalized by Cezanne, and Arles, haunted by Van Gogh’s yellows. Then to Barcelona Spain, finding Gaudi’s amazing unfinished vision, and on to Madrid and the El Prado to see Velazquez, Goya, El Greco and Picasso. Finally the Italian treasures in Rome, Florence, and Tuscany. Michelangelo was a revelation!
The following year Mexico was her new adventure exploring Aztec, Colonial and revolutionary history. Viewing Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo left a lasting impression, influencing Mead’s painting combined the figure and landscape in bold composition and color.
The adoption of a Korean baby led to the study of Chinese calligraphy and landscape painting at Korean School of NY and China Institute with Wang Daween and Jin Guang yu. Traveling to Korea and later China furthered her conception of Asian art. In 2004 Mead won third prize for a painting at the Audubon Artists exhibit. After an exhibition at the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery in 2005 several of her paintings were selected for their collection.
Mead then spent years exploring the astonishing National Parks in Western USA, Alaska and Canada. She was endowed with greater understanding of color, light and cubism through landscape painting. In 2008 A. Kasteev State Museum of the Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan exhibited her paintings, then selected the painting, "Orange Canyon View," for their permanent collection.
Her study of Goya’s work after the Napoleonic invasion of 1808, Picasso’s Guernica, Rivera’s murals and Robert Motherwell's commemoration of human suffering during the Spanish Civil War set the stage for her newest series on Global Warming. Her mixed media sculpture, “Earth: For Our Children’s Children,” shown in 2010 at Gallery 307, was acquired by the Carter Burden Center for exhibit in their lobby. In the same year the painting, “Dropping the Ball On Global Warming,” exhibited by American Society of Contemporary Artists, won the Rose Hart Betensky ASCA Memorial Award. In 2011 the Yuko Nii Foundation purchased this paint and another, "Running Not Listening To Earth," for permanent collection; also in this year she received a gold medal for painting from New York Realism’s juried show “Earth Day.” After the closing of the Marina Tsvetaeva Museum exhibit in Moscow, Russia in January 2013 the artwork, "Cherish the Earth," was chosen for the Museum's permanent collection.
Today Mead continues her world travels, finding artistic stimulation through Africa's and India's vibrant color and fascinating myths. Most recently impressed by El Anatsue's "Earth's Skin" and "Ozone Layer," these mosaic tapestries influenced her latest work of multiple squares creating the whole continuing her theme of the Climate Crisis.
Seeking change and in depth contact with the “masters” she explored Paris and The Louvre: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, Degas, Monet, Matisse; Southern France: Aix en Provence, immortalized by Cezanne, and Arles, haunted by Van Gogh’s yellows. Then to Barcelona Spain, finding Gaudi’s amazing unfinished vision, and on to Madrid and the El Prado to see Velazquez, Goya, El Greco and Picasso. Finally the Italian treasures in Rome, Florence, and Tuscany. Michelangelo was a revelation!
The following year Mexico was her new adventure exploring Aztec, Colonial and revolutionary history. Viewing Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo left a lasting impression, influencing Mead’s painting combined the figure and landscape in bold composition and color.
The adoption of a Korean baby led to the study of Chinese calligraphy and landscape painting at Korean School of NY and China Institute with Wang Daween and Jin Guang yu. Traveling to Korea and later China furthered her conception of Asian art. In 2004 Mead won third prize for a painting at the Audubon Artists exhibit. After an exhibition at the M.T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery in 2005 several of her paintings were selected for their collection.
Mead then spent years exploring the astonishing National Parks in Western USA, Alaska and Canada. She was endowed with greater understanding of color, light and cubism through landscape painting. In 2008 A. Kasteev State Museum of the Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan exhibited her paintings, then selected the painting, "Orange Canyon View," for their permanent collection.
Her study of Goya’s work after the Napoleonic invasion of 1808, Picasso’s Guernica, Rivera’s murals and Robert Motherwell's commemoration of human suffering during the Spanish Civil War set the stage for her newest series on Global Warming. Her mixed media sculpture, “Earth: For Our Children’s Children,” shown in 2010 at Gallery 307, was acquired by the Carter Burden Center for exhibit in their lobby. In the same year the painting, “Dropping the Ball On Global Warming,” exhibited by American Society of Contemporary Artists, won the Rose Hart Betensky ASCA Memorial Award. In 2011 the Yuko Nii Foundation purchased this paint and another, "Running Not Listening To Earth," for permanent collection; also in this year she received a gold medal for painting from New York Realism’s juried show “Earth Day.” After the closing of the Marina Tsvetaeva Museum exhibit in Moscow, Russia in January 2013 the artwork, "Cherish the Earth," was chosen for the Museum's permanent collection.
Today Mead continues her world travels, finding artistic stimulation through Africa's and India's vibrant color and fascinating myths. Most recently impressed by El Anatsue's "Earth's Skin" and "Ozone Layer," these mosaic tapestries influenced her latest work of multiple squares creating the whole continuing her theme of the Climate Crisis.
Education
Pratt Institute / Scholarship / B.F.A.
Queens College
Teachers College
Art Students League
Korean School of New York
China Institute
Queens College
Teachers College
Art Students League
Korean School of New York
China Institute
All images and content © 2020 Margo Mead