Originally from Pittsburgh, Margery Amdur received her B.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Since graduation, she has lived and worked throughout the U.S. Ms. Amdur has had over 50 solo and two-person exhibitions and has appeared in numerous group shows. Her international exhibitions include Turkey, Hungary, and England. The artist is the recipient of more than a dozen awards and grants. She has been reviewed in national and international publications including Sculpture Magazine and New Art Examiner. Additionally, several catalogs have been published about her work, including Seams to be Constructed.

Creating elegant connections through layers of abstracted sources, Amdur’s small scale-work is colorful and complex. In her 4 Across 5 Down series, “color pots” sit atop delicate line work and numbers, evoking paint by numbers whose instructions are discarded. The layers of paper, texture, daubs of color and wax create a soothing environment that invites a deeper look.

Likewise, drawing from the perceived separation of art and craft, Amdur’s large-scale and installation work, such as Seams to be Constructed, intrigues with attention to detail and craft. Delicate in appearance but constructed from strong metallic screen, oversized, reproductions of feminine objects such as evening bags, giant roses, and fainting couches exist in environments abounding with ruffs and folds. Amdur’s installations, paintings, and sculpture have uniting themes of exploration permeating her work.

Lectureships and workshops have also been a large facet of this artist’s career. She has been a visiting artist throughout the U.S. and has also been a juror for several art exhibitions. Margery has relocated to Philadelphia, where she is busy in her new studio with an innovative body of work that is distinctly hers as she continues to explore her interest in multi-dimensional structure.

Education: M.F.A. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (1982)
B.F.A. Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1979)

National and International Solo or Two Person Exhibitions:
2006 - Bellas Artes, Maracaibo, Venezuela, Artifacto, Menagua, Nicaragua
2005 - The Alsager Gallery, Manchester, England, Gallery X, Istanbul, Turkey, The Stedman Gallery , Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey
2003 - The University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary, and Florida International University, Miami, FL,
2004 - The Alsager Gallery, Manchester, England, and Gallery X, Istanbul, Turkey, The University of New Mexico Special Project Room, Albuquerque, NM.
Other selected exhibitions span over 20 years: from the one in 1984 at the Nexus Gallery in Philadelphia and the four in 1997 – at the Stephen Gang Gallery in New York City, The Foundry in Washington, D.C., the Conlon-Siegel Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan – to the four for 1999/2000 at the Hewlett Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Indianapolis Contemporary Art Center in Indianapolis, Indiana; the Moreau Gallery at Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana; the Stephen Gang Gallery in new York City. In addition, some others include the Appalachian Center for Art & Crafts, Smithville, Tennessee, The Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the Concept Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Earlier shows were at the Claremont Graduate School in California (1995), Penn State University (1993), The University of Alaska (1992), the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia (1991), and 55 Mercer Street Gallery in New York City (1986).

Group Exhibitions – There have been a total of 50. They range from (2005) Hyder Gallery, Four Women, Works on Paper, (2004) HMC Exhibition, Nador Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, (2003) the exhibition “Eight” at the Jonson Gallery in Albuquerque, NM to (2001) Art Space in Kansas City, MO to the 1999 “Women Artists from the Land of Enchantment” at the Lew Allen Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1999) to “The Cedar Rapids Invitational” in the Cedar Rapids Art Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1998); the Monothon of “Site Santa Fe” in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1997); and the Third Street Gallery in Philadelphia to shows at Vanderbilt University (1995), Western University (1992), the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, Delaware (1990); and the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama (1983)

Articles and Reviews : There have been 35 in national publications including upcoming essays in Sculpture Magazine, (2005), Insight Magazine (2005) NY Arts, (May 2001), New Art Examiner, (April 2001); Sculpture Magazine (July 2000), New Art Examiner (March, 2000), Fiber Arts (Sept./Oct. 1999). Dialogue Magazine, (November 1999); Art Journal (Spring 1999), Sculpture Magazine (April 1998), Art Papers (October 1995), and The Chronicle of Higher Education (July 1996), as well as additional reviews in newspapers around the country and outside the US like the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Albuquerque Tribune, and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Delmagyarorszag.

Catalogues: Of Silver Threads and Ephemeral Passages: Checklist Kohler Art Center, essay by Lisa Tamaris-Becker Seams to be Constructed: ( Albuquerque, 1997). This is a 45-page monograph on my work featuring essays by three leading art critics – Eleanor Heartney, Kay Whitney, and Judith Stein. 5 Across 4 Down: an upcoming Catalogue. Essays by Libora Gates-Indruchova and Alti Kunsam. Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Painting: Upcoming book by Liverpool University Press. I will have an essay on Hybridity included in this publication.

Awards and Grants : Fourteen in all. These include a Hungarian Multicultural Award, 2004, a US Embassy Awarded Grant, 2003, a Dean’s Council Grant 2001, at the University of New Mexico, a large RAC Grant at the University of New Mexico in 1998; the 1995 Visions of Excellence Award of the Albuquerque United Artists; a City Sculpture prize in Bellingham, Washington; and an NEA Artist in the Schools Grant for 1982/83.