Terry Parmelee

United States of America (USA), 1929

BiographyTerry Parmelee Prints, 1966-1999: A Catalogue Raisonné Compiled by Terry Parmelee and edited by Patricia La Liberté; Foreword by Joseph A. Haller, S.J., with essays by Jane N. Haslem and Sylvan Cole. (Washington, D.C.: Terry Parmelee) 2003. Softcover 96p. $50Terry Parmelee (b.1929) has recently completed the arduous task of publishing the catalogue raisonné of her printed work with commentary by the artist. The project that began 5 years ago at the recommendation of Father Joseph Haller, curator-emeritus at Georgetown University, compiles Parmelee’s print oeuvre and spans more than 30 years of her work in woodcut, etching, silkscreen, and monotype. Chronologically ordered, the catalogue raisonné details information about the title, date, edition, medium, size, and holdings by public collections for each of the 122 editions and reproduces them in 16 full color and 118 black and white illustrations. A notable feature of this well documented catalog is the personal voice that narrates the development of Parmelee’s imagery through the artist’s annotations and detailed biography. The story tracks an artist’s career partly as a response to aesthetics and trends in contemporary art, partly as an exploration of printmaking techniques, and partly as an embrace of family and relationships. It positions Parmelee in the history of contemporary American printmaking through her art, teaching, and service to the Washington Print Club community. Best known for her color woodcuts, Parmelee received early instruction in block printing from Un’Ichi Hiratsuka (1895-1997) while living in Tokyo in the late 1950s. It was not until 1966 when Parmelee studied woodcut with Carol Summers (b.1925), however, that printmaking became a component of her artistic production. While she continued painting as her primary medium, Parmelee acknowledged her motivation to print, once claiming "I do not think I would have become a printmaker if I had not met and studied with Carol Summers." In fact, it is Summers’ technical and stylistic influences that are evidenced throughout Parmelee’s prints, particularly his staining and rubbing methods that require the direct inking of the paper followed by a saturating mineral solvent spray. This innovation of the woodcut technique, which creates a unique and organic impression, is a defining characteristic in many of Parmelee’s prints from the 1960s-80s. Among the best known of these prints are Ixtlan and Karthoum commissioned by Sylvan Cole for the Associated American Artists. These woodcuts demonstrate Parmelee’s careful arrangement of geometric shapes and application of color in order to transmit a unique expression that explores the psychological effects of color combinations and symbolic meanings. Such "color abstraction" was popularized by Pop Art and the non-objective work of the Washington Color School. However, it was Parmelee’s vision that transformed color and form into Utopian landscapes and harmonious images such as those mentioned above. It is fitting that Parmelee discovered and built her artistic legacy in Washington amongst the artists of the color school such as Gene Davis. Like the generation of artists before her, Parmelee has shared her artistic gift with the Washington community through teaching at the Corcoran School of Art and Montgomery College as well as serving numerous roles in the Washington Print Club, an organization founded by Jacob Kainen. This catalogue raisonné, while an invaluable resource to art historians and collectors, also serves as a retrospective tribute to the printmaker Terry Parmelee. For more information about the artist and her prints and paintings, visit www.terryparmelee.com.About the author: Parker Agelasto is an historian of American printmaking. He has served as Curatorial Assistant of prints and photographs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and co-editor of the Washington Print Club Quarterly. He is currently compiling the catalogue raisonné of prints by J. J. Lankes (1884-1960).

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