Terry Parmelee American, b. 1929

Terry Parmelee is known for vibrant works across a variety of media, transforming the legacy of the largely male-dominated Washington Color School through her provocation of symbolism. After engaging in the art of woodcutting under the guidance of Un'Ichi Hiratsuka in the late 1950s, she began to develop an esteemed reputation for her woodcuts and paintings within Washington, D.C. and across the nation. In her practice, she carved and arranged a series of geometric shapes, contorting their fixed, symbolic resonances through her application of color. Her work bears semblance to the recognizable inquiries of the Washington Color School, utilizing systematic interplays of color, culminating in repetitive yet idiosyncratic gestures, while incorporating her own sense of proto-modern stylization. This engagement with symbolism heightens the psychological reckoning across her oeuvre, with cultural references displaced in calculated associations of color. Parmelee remains a prominent figure of the second-generation of the Washington Color School, with her contributions increasingly celebrated independently of the aspirations of her male counterparts. 

Terry Parmelee (b. 1929, Madison, WI) received her BA at University of Kansas, Lawrence. Pursuing her growing interest in art, she enrolled in American University in 1967, obtaining her MFA in painting. For decades, Parmelee taught woodcut techniques at Montgomery College in Maryland (1969-1977) and at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC (1972-1973). Her work has been showcased extensively, featured in exhibitions including the Ukraine-American Graphic Arts Symposium in Kyiv, Ukraine, and The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Additionally, she has exhibited at Jane Haslem Gallery in Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, Daryl Rubenstein Gallery in Washington, DC, and Apogee Gallery in Princeton, NJ. 

Her work is held in the permanent collections of numerous private and public institutions, including The University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware; IBM, Armonk, NY; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; the First National Bank of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Kline Corporation, Pittsburg, PA; Georgetown University, Washington, DC; and the National Museum of Art, Washington, DC. In addition, Parmelee is the recipient of several awards and grants, including a design competition for the 75th Anniversary of the National Symphony Orchestra (2005).