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AWARDS AND HONORS

2007 Banff Creative­ Residency Program Grant

2006 Women's Studio Workshop Residency Grant

University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts Outstanding Faculty Award

2005 Center for Contemporary Printmaking Residency Fellowship

2002 The University of Connecticut Chancellor’s Research Fellowship

William Randolph Hearst Artist and Writers Creative Arts Fellowship,

American Antiquarian Society

2001 Nexus Press Artist Book Project Residency Award

Visual Studies Press Artist in Residence Award

Louise Comfort Tiffany Foundation Nominee

1997 The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship

1996 New England Foundation for the Arts Regional National Endowment for the Arts,

Individual Artist Grant

Joan Mitchell Foundation Nominee

Juror's Merit Award, New American Talent: Laguna Gloria Museum

1995 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship Nominee

1991 Connecticut Commission on the Arts Individual Artist Grant

1988 Yale University Visiting Faculty Fellow

1985 YADDO Fellow Artist-In-Residence

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 Upcoming: Black&White, Zillman Gallery University of Maine Museum of Art

Banghor, ME

Collision, Marketview Gallery, York College of PA, York PA

2019 The Weight of the World, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT

The Edge of Time, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2018 Un/Natural Occurrence, Gray Contemporary Gallery, Houston TX

Turbulence, Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO

Counter Clockwise, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2016 Pernicious Beauty, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2015 Lush Life, N’Namdi, Contemporary Miami, Miami, FL

2013 Chasing the Light - Sears Peyton Gallery, New York, New York

2012 SACI Gallery Florence, Italy

2009 G.R.N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL

2007 Stewart Gallery, Purdue University

Wright State University, West Layfette, IN

2005 Sears Peyton Gallery, New York, NY

2004 G.R.N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI

2001 G.R.N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL

1999 ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL

1999 Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT

1998 Diggs Gallery, Winston-­Salem, NC

1997 The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 Upcoming: Double Consciousness, Mueller Gallery Caldwell University Caldwell,NJ

2019 Selfish, K.Imperial Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2018 State of Abstraction, Washington Art Association & Gallery, Washington Depot, CT

Parallel Practices, The Visual and Performing Arts Center, Western CT State University, Danbury, CT

MONSTERS -Among/Within, Hans Weiss NewSpace Gallery, Manchester Community College, Manchester CT

Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction 1960’s to Today, Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, FL

2017 Decades of Change, Art Space, New Haven, CT

Stacked, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, NYC

Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction 1960’s to Today, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Kansas City, MO

Magnetic Fields, Expanding American Abstraction 1960’s to Today, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

2016 Surface Work, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, curated by David Borawski

The Tide Is High, Governors Island NY

2015 Interwoven, Mead Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

2014 Art in the Embassies, American Embassy, Paris, France

ART FUSION/ Art Basel. N'Namdi, Miami, FL

Window Seat N’Namdi, Miami, FL

2013 Abstraction, N'Namdi Contemporary, Miami, FL

2012 Float- Sears Peyton Gallery, NY, NY

Hidden Essence G.R.N’Namdi Gallery Chicago, IL

N’Namdi Contemporary Miami, FL

2008 Connecticut Biennale Mattatuck Museum, Bridgeport, CT

Contemporary Printmaking. The Rye Text Messages: Words and Letters Arts Center Rye, NY

Abstraction Updated, G.A.S.P Gallery, Brookline, MA

More Than One: Prints and Multiples, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Stories and Histories. Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

2004 Conflicting Memories, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS

2002 The Belles of Amherst: Contemporary Women Artists in the Collection

Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA

Words of Vision/Vision of Words CT Commission on the Arts, Hartford, CT

2000 Revisiting Abstraction, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

1996 The Eighth Triennial, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA

Translucency, Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, University of CA., Santa Cruz, CA

1995 New American Talent, Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi

Alabama Impact: Contemporary Artists with Alabama Ties, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL, and The Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL

1991 9 Artists/9 Visions: DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

United States Embassy, Yaoundé, Cameroon, West Africa

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI

Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell, University, Bucknell, PA

Allen Memorial Museum of Art, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

Fine Art Museum Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC

Hallmark Cards, Inc. Kansas City, MO

Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN

Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, IA Cedar

Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC

Vanderbilt University Museum, Nashville, TN

Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL

Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, NV.

General Electric Company, Fairfield, CT

Chemical Bank, New York, NY Pepsi Co, Ryebrook, NY

Meditech Corporation, Cambridge, MA

Southern New England Telephone, New Haven, CT

Aetna Life Insurance Company, Middletown, CT

Salmon River Corporation, Glastonbury, CT

Culbro Land Resources, Windsor, CT

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND REVIEWS

Art New England, The Weight of the World, Jacquelyn Gleisner. Five Points Gallery

The Paris Review, June 22, 2017, The Bookness of Not-Books, Albert Mobilio

ARTPULSE Magazine Vol. 7 2015, Deborah Dancy: Between Abstraction and Representation, Jeff Edwards

The Drawing Center, Emmie Danza ,June 26, 2013, Deborah Dancy, Chasing the Light, SearsPeyton Gallery

The Willimantic Chronicle, Terese Karmel, November 2008, A Convergence of Art and Music

Art New England, Cynthia Farnell, October/November 2005, Speaking Volumes Univ. RI

Hartford Advocate, Patricia Rosoff, July 15, 2004, Small Vistas, The 10-Year Show at 100 Pearl

Hartford Advocate, Patricia Rosoff, July 5,2004, Finding One’s Self

Holleley, Douglas. Digital Book, Design and Publishing, Cary Graphic Arts Press, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2000

Connecticut Review, Fall 2000, The Practical Speller

Art New England, June/July 2000, Pat Rosoff, Abstraction, Central Connecticut State University

Art New England, October/November 1997, Lois Tarlow, Deborah Muirhead's Ghostly Vision

Hartford Advocate, October 9, 1997, Patricia Rosoff, Variety is the Spice of Life

Art New England, Joyce Chen, February/March 1997, Fuller Museum of Art

ArtsMedia, Jeff Perrott, January/February 1997, The Eighth Triennial Exhibition

Art New England, Francois Hugot, June/July 1996, Lenore Gray Gallery, Muirhead, Reddicliffe: Paintings

Time Capsule: A Concise Encyclopedia By Women Artists, S.O.S International, edited by Robin Kahn, NY

Art New England, Michael Rush, April/May 1996, Connecticut Invitational

The New York Times, William Zimmer, April 28, 1996

Gumbo Ya Ya: Anthology of Contemporary African American Women Artists, 1995, Midmarch Publication, NY

Art New England, Michael Rush, August/September 1995, 3 Connecticut Artists Transform the Ordinary

The New York Times, William Zimmer, April 16, 1995, Three in Search of the Spiritual

The Art of Seeing, 3rd Edition, 1993 Mary Pat Fisher, Paul Zelanski, Calmann & King Limited, London

The Hartford Courant, Owen McNally, Painter Muirhead Peers Through A History, Darkly

Color, 1994, Mary Pat Fisher, Paul Zelanski, Calmann & King Limited, London

Hartford Advocate, September 24,1992, Susan Wadsworth, Hooked: Deborah Muirhead at Trinity

The Boston Globe, Friday, June 28, 1991, Christine Temin, DeCordova has 9 Artists

The New York Times, Sunday, April 14, 1991, William Zimmer, Connecticut Biennial

Art New England, February 1991, Susan Wadsworth, Spirit Calls

The New York Times, Sunday, May 2,1989, Vivian Raynor, Stamford Museum

Art New England, May 1989, Jude Schwendenwein, Spirit in the Wood/Paint

The New York Times, Sunday, February 26,1989, Vivian Raynor, Spirit in the Wood/Paint

Art News, Summer 1988, David Bonetti, Boston: A Baker's Dozen

The Boston Globe, Thursday March 31,1988, Christina Temin, Deborah Muirhead Solo Exhibit Liz Harris Gallery

A Tarde, Bahia, Brazil June 8,1987, Artista Americana Estuda as Manifestacoes Baianas

New Britain Herald Review, December 1987, Dorothy Spears, Connecticut Now Abstract Painting

Hartford Courant, December 1987, Matt Damsker, Three Artists Open the Gap Between Mystery and Reality

The New York Times, Sunday August 10,1986, William Zimmer, The Aetna Collection

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

N'Namdi Contemporary. Miami, FL

Robischon Gallery. Denver, CO

Marcia Wood Gallery. Atlanta, GA

Deborah Dancy is an abstract artist. Her paintings and drawings are sensuous provocations beset with marks that guide, then abruptly collide into confrontational slabs of color. There is an atmosphere of complex but urgent tension in her work, as she builds tangential linear demarcations, and abutting shapes, that provoke, entice and disrupt; -taking us everywhere and nowhere. From densely painted forms to more minimally declared images, Dancy’s work operates in the recognition that meanderings, intentional and accidental declarations are best when the beautiful and the disconcerting exist simultaneously.

Deborah Dancy was born in Bessemer, Alabama and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She earned BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MS and an MFA from Illinois State University. She is the recipient of John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Yaddo Fellow, and a National Endowment of the Arts NEFA award. Her work is in many collections including: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Birmingham Museum of Art, The Hunter Museum and The Detroit Institute of Art.  N’Namdi Contemporary Miami, Robischon Gallery, Denver, and Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, represent her work. 

I like to deal with fragments. Because no matter what the thought would be if it were fully worked out, it wouldn’t be as good as the suggestion of a thought that the space gives you. Nothing fully worked out could be so arresting, spooky.
— Anne Carson




I work abstractly because I am interested in its ability to operate in a realm in which beauty and tension simultaneously exist without explanation or narrative. It’s my intention to create ambiguous spaces that aim to be both beautiful and unnerving. In this realm of the incomplete, the fragment, the ruin and residue of - “almost was” and “might become,” I work between the edges of struggle and discovery. I take pleasure in moving paint around until something holds my interest and interrupt any assumptions about what it should become. Through a series of processes involving scraping away and repainting, fragmented tangled structures, patched and disjointed emerge to organize themselves in ambiguous spaces. I want to honor the process and have the exposed forms resist location by existing in tangential space.